Namdia Forced to Relocate after $17m Heist
July 16, 25
(IDEX Online) - Security concerns forced Namdia to relocate from its HQ after the $17m rough diamond heist in January, it emerged during a parliamentary question.
"We did not authorise Namdia to operate from there while we are looking at the security features," Natangwe Ithete, minister of industry, mines and energy, told the Namibian parliament last week.
He was responding to questions from Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani about security measures at Namdia HQ in the capital, Windhoek.
Vennai also asked why the government had not replaced Namdia's board of directors and management after the heist.
Namdia (Namib Desert Diamonds), the government-owned diamond marketing company, was attacked it prepared to sell its largest ever rough consignment. Security supervisor Francis "Gosh" Eiseb, aged 57, died of a gunshot wound after he was called to the incident.
In the aftermath, Namdia's CEO Alisa Amupolo, chief operations officer Uahoroka Kauta, and security manager Paulinus Sheyapo pending an investigation.
Last week another opposition MP criticized Namdia for appointing an unqualified security consultant after the heist, who hired his own son to install a new security system.
Six suspects, three from the same family - George, Charmaine and Bino Cloete - have since been arrested in connection with the raid.
A relative of the Cloetes - a security guard believed to have taken the diamonds at the scene - remains at large.