A forensic report into the veracity of allegations of corruption and mismanagement at TransNamib by the public enterprises (PE) minister at the cash-strapped national rail entity has been concluded.

Audit firm Ernst & Young (EY) was tasked to execute the task by PE Minister Leon Jooste in August last year. This report is now with Jooste for input.

After his contribution, the forensic report will head to the national anti-graft body.

The audit stems from Jooste’s 2020 instruction to TransNamib board chairperson, Advocate Sigrid Tjijorokisa, to institute an investigation into allegations “which, if true and left unchecked, may have detrimental consequences for the operational and financial sustainability” of the struggling parastatal.

Superior among the countless allegations against TransNamib is that the company has a bloated management structure consisting of nine executives.

Believed to be over-compensated, the executives each take home no less than N.dollars 100 000 in monthly salaries, a vehicle allowance of N.dollars 15 000 and N.dollars 6 000 in fuel allowance.

The selective implementation of the company’s performance management policy has also been questioned.

Approached on the progress of the investigation last week, Jooste responded: “The TransNamib report is in draft form and will only be complete when our inputs are incorporated. Regardless of this, we will not be allowed to share the actual reports because both [including the Agribusdev report] will be submitted to the ACC for their consideration and any leakage of the contents might compromise further investigations.”

However, Jooste’s office will prepare a summarised report for “each of these [TransNamib and Agribusdev] that will contain the salient points without the potential incriminating details”.

“I do feel that it’s necessary to share with the public as much as possible,” he said.

Since taking charge of public enterprises in Namibia, Jooste has faced a daunting task in reforming TransNamib into a profit-making entity.

A possibility also exists that TransNamib bosses presented fictitious financial records to Jooste, Nampa found in an investigation last year.

“I have reason to be concerned about TransNamib, as they are commercially somewhat distressed at the moment,” Jooste said at the time.

“Misleading one’s shareholder is always an extremely serious transgression and if this has occurred, I will leave no stone unturned to expose where and why this has occurred,” he added.

Last week, TransNamib employees were up in arms over their monthly pension deductions which never reached the pension administrator since May 2021, New Era reported.

A fraud case (CR183/01/2022) has since been opened with the Namibian Police’s commercial crimes investigation department.

Late last year, the troubled rail company issued voluntary severance packages in the face of plummeting cargo volumes and redundant positions.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency