Charged tax official loses modest investment

A WALVIS Bay tax official accused of having been at the centre of a fraud scheme that cost the Ministry of Finance millions of dollars has now lost only a modest investment to an attempt by the prosecutor general to seize ill-gotten assets from her.

While senior taxation officer Jeanette Garoes is alleged to have pocketed payments totalling N$885 000 from some people who received fraudulent tax refunds from the Ministry of Finance, an investment of about N$20 000 is the only asset of Garoes (42) that prosecutor general Martha Imalwa has managed to seize and have declared forfeited to the state so far. An order to have Garoes' investment in a unit trust account with Sanlam Namibia forfeited to the state was given by judge Boas Usiku in the Windhoek High Court last Friday. The unit trust account had a balance of N$19 388 shortly before the PG obtained a property preservation order that in effect froze the account in the Windhoek High Court on 24 March. With the preservation order in place, Imalwa proceeded to apply for a forfeiture order regarding the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, without opposition from Garoes.