Staff Writer
The Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) has announced that three more employees have been suspended, bringing the total to seven employees that have been fingered for their involvement in a loans scandal that has rocked the bank.
This comes as the DBN Spokesperson Di-Anna Grobler revealed that the bank was close to concluding its investigations.
“If there are alleged irregularities, the Bank will follow through with investigation on the matter and take appropriate steps to ensure that the integrity of the Bank is preserved,” she said.
The development at the bank comes after media reports revealed senior officials in the SME Credit Department allegedly approved loans involving at least N$120 million to companies fronted by their proxies.
Previously implicated and suspended employees according to media reports include the bank’s Head of Credit risk, Vivian Groenewald, SME Credit Manager Stanley Gaoseb, Senior SME Credit Manager John Jacobs, and SME Manager Heinrich Tsauseb.
The loans in question according to the article, were approved for 21 SMEs subcontracted by Meerkat (a non-exclusive truck sourcing broker for Trade Port Namibia (Pty) Ltd) to supply trucks for the transport of manganese from Tshipi mine to Lüderitz en route to China.
