Works inspector and engineer charged with corruption

A FRAUDULENT transaction which cost the Works Ministry more than N$30 000 in 2006 last week landed an employee of that ministry and the owner of an engineering company at Gobabis in court.

Katjo Tjozongoro, a mechanical works inspector with the Ministry of Works and Transport, and Gerhard Paul Dunaiski both appeared in the Gobabis Magistrate’s Court last Tuesday after being arrested by Police officers attached to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). According to information provided by the ACC, it had been investigating allegations of corruption involving a transaction between Tjozongoro and Dunaiski in November 2006. Dunaiski, who runs the company Mechciv Engineering in Gobabis, is accused of over-billing the Works Ministry for the repairs his company carried out on a water pump, apparently pocketing the difference between the eventual cost and the quotation he submitted to get the job. Tjozongoro stands accused of colluding with Dunaiski in endorsing and certifying the invoice for the work. Dunaiski, the ACC said, is alleged to have submitted a quotation of N$103 603 for the installation of a 18-kilowatt motor for the repair of a submersible water pump. ‘Upon approval of his quotation, Dunaiski installed a lower capacity submersible water pump of 11 KW and (still) submitted a claim for N$103 603,’ the ACC stated. ‘According to expert information obtained during the investigation, the water pump of 11 KW installed is only worth N$73 232,’ it stated. The pump was for a borehole supplying water to the Montomi School at the town. Both men were granted bail of N$4 000 and their case was postponed until February 24. They are charged with breaking section 43 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, which prohibits the use of office or position for gratification. battery operated submersible water pump

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Works inspector and engineer charged with corruption - The Namibian