..as Case 33 poses a conundrum for police
Andrew Kathindi
Fishcor General Manager for Finance Paulus Ngalangi on Wednesday spoke out over his links and involvement with a Covid-19 positive South African suspect arrested by the police in Windhoek’s City Centre over the weekend.
Ngalangi whose term ended as Fishcor’s Acting boss in May, said he had transported the suspected who is now in police custody “as a favor” to an unidentified friend and enlisted the services of a police officer, who has been arrested.
“I was asked by a friend to collect a gentleman who was stuck with transport at Noordoewer on the Namibian side of the border. I asked a Sergeant in the Namibian Police to accompany me. I picked up the gentleman in Noordoewer at the Engen Services station, on the Namibian side of the border and proceeded to drive to Windhoek,” he said in a written reply.
“Please note that I asked the Sergeant to accompany me on the basis that I don’t get myself on the wrong side of the law. The gentleman was dropped off at an address in Rocky Crest in Windhoek.” His response, however, comes as Nampol Inspector General, Sebastian Ndeitunga had confirmed a second suspect linked to the case had been arrested in the South of the country but declined to confirm if it was Ngalangi.
“I cannot mention names but he was arrested in Luderitz and is also under quarantine,” he said.
This comes as the Namibian Police Force has found itself in a quandary with the South African suspect, classified as Case number 33 by the Ministry of Health after testing positive for Covid-19, after it emerged that he is yet to be charged and it will only be possible to charge him when he has recovered from the virus.
According to Namibian law Article 11(3) of the Constitution and 50 of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977, a suspect must be brought before a magistrate within 48 hours of his arrest.
Ndeitunga confirmed the development to the Windhoek Observer, but maintained investigation will be on-going while the suspect, who is said to speak fluent Oshiwambo and being kept under mandatory quarantine at a local hotel, recovers.
“We’ll wait until he recovers to deal with him. But in the meantime, the investigation will go on. When it comes to charging and other things, we’ll wait until he recovers,” said Ndeitunga.
Quizzed on the charges that the suspect will face, Nampol Inspector General said, “He violated the immigration law by entering in Namibia without using the governed exit and entry points and other charges will be added as the investigation goes on.”
He, however, rubbished rumors that the suspect was in possession of N$7 million in cash.
“As far as the information I received, he had US$1,100.00 on him (N$18,931.00),” Ndeitunga said.
The Director-General of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Paulus Noa said he had heard about the arrest but was still to be officially briefed.
