WINDHOEK – Dr Boniface Mutumba, the suspended University of Namibia Pro-Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance and his co-accused Ruben Prinz, the Assistant Director of Estate at the university, will plead on August 3, 2015 to corruption charges involving a N$16.2 million Unam tender.
Magistrate Johannes Shuuveni remanded the matter on Friday when the duo made a second appearance in the Regional Court in Katutura. The matter is set to run from August 3 to August 7 2015.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) arrested the two.
The allegations against Mutumba and Prinz pertain to their alleged “corrupt use of office and position for gratification”, states an ACC media statement.
The two are free on bail of N$5 000 each.
Information provided by the ACC after the arrest indicated that Prinz recommended a company other than the one preferred by the consultant for a tender for the construction of hostel facilities at the Neudamm campus.
He allegedly went with the proposal to Matumbu who in turn instructed him to propose another company that he (Mutumba) preferred. Both the companies preferred by the two were more expensive by over one million Namibian dollars than the ones submitted by the consultant.
Prinz then omitted certain information and provided the Unam’s Tender Board during his motivation with incorrect information regarding the company that Mutumba allegedly preferred, the statement by the ACC reads.
The Unam Tender Board, of which Mutumba was a member, then awarded the tender to C&K Construction and Electrical based on the false information provided by Prinz, according to the ACC.
The process was stopped before implementation when suspicions were raised in respect of the tender allocation. Mutumba is on suspension with full pay, but the suspension is not related to this issue, Unam’s public relations officer, John Haufiku, told New Era upon enquiry last month.
He said Mutumba was suspended to stop him from interfering with an internal investigation against him.
Alexander Veicco represented the State on Friday.
Haufiku said Prinz is back at work according to the institution’s policy of innocent until proven guilty.
He further said Mutumba’s suspension with full pay is also indicative of the same policy.