Staff Writer
Director General of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Paulus Noah and Prosecutor General Martha Imalwa have been taken to court by pensioner, Selma Fimanekeni Mbome for unlawful arrest by ACC members in 2017.
Mbome is citing Noah, Imalwa and the government as the first, second and third respondents respectively.
According to documents filed at the High Court of Namibia, Mbome is claiming N$1 695 454
with interest at the rate of 20% per annum for damages she suffered during her arrest and the cost of suit.
It is alleged that Mbome, who was 59 years old at the time was arrested in 2017 when she was still employed at the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration on allegations of corruption.
“On the 27 February 2017 and at Windhoek, the Plaintiff was arbitrary arrested by sergeant Nantinda who was employed by the first Defendant and as such, whilst acting with the course and scope of his employment with the first Defendant, wrongfully charged the Plaintiff with 3 counts under case number WHK-CRM-4199/2017 for allegedly corruptly using office or position for gratification, corruptly accepting gratification and corruptly accepting gratification whilst in the employment of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration where she was employed as an administrative officer,” reads the documents.
Subsequently, Mbome remained in custody until she was granted bail of N$7 000 with conditions in March.
However, In July 2020, Mbome was found not guilty and subsequently acquitted of all charges.
“The first Defendant and sergeant Nantinda who was delegated by the first Defendant to arrest and charge the Plaintiff had no reasonable and probable cause to arrest and charge the Plaintiff in the face of lack of probable evidence to lead to a conviction of the Plaintiff. Further, the first Defendant and/or his employees produced no shred of evidence implicating the Plaintiff in the commission of the alleged crime and/or alleged offence. They as had no basis whatsoever on which they could have found that there was reasonable and probable cause to arrest and charge the Plaintiff,” it is stated in the documents.
The pensioner averred that, as a result of this case, she suffered extreme injury to her reputation as she felt highly humiliated at the advance age of 59 years.
She allegedly maintained serious injuries to her health, as she developed high blood pressure, which eventually became extremely chronic.
According to her, she later suffered from a stroke which led to a permanent dislocation of her eye, among others.
In addition, the pensioner revealed that she is now dependent on medication to live, has medical prescriptions to pay for and she wants to be compensated.
Furthermore, she indicated that since the proceedings of the case she ran into debts, and this is after using up all savings and pension funds to cover both medical and legal costs, as well as the transport cost from Onekwaya-West, where she is from to Windhoek.
The case was postponed to 22 September 2022 for a pre-trial conference.
