OUT OF THE RACE: Accounting executive Jennifer Comalie.
OUT OF THE RACE: Accounting executive Jennifer Comalie.

Comalie quits DBN CEO race

Ogone Tlhage
City of Windhoek bean counter Jennifer Comalie withdrew her interest from the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) CEO position just hours before she was arrested on Monday morning over drug-dealing allegations.

“It is a confidential process. She withdrew from the interviews and interviews were conducted. She withdrew early Monday morning. No reasons were given,” DBN board chairperson Sarel van Zyl said yesterday.

He would not divulge further information, only adding that the recruitment process was ongoing.

“A lot of stuff still needs to be done,” he said.

Comalie made her first court appearance late Tuesday afternoon.

This after a sting operation found drugs worth N$57 000 in her vehicle.

She was granted bail of N$7 000 on the State’s proposal and her case has been remanded to 31 July for further investigations. She was represented by lawyer Trevor Brockerhoff.

The bust

A tip-off relating to drugs in Comalie’s car and its subsequent search came as the chairperson was on her way to a National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) board meeting, where she was allegedly going to suspend the company’s CEO, Imms Mulunga.

According to the police, the search uncovered 935 grams of cannabis, 60 units of crack cocaine and 10 grams of cocaine powder.

This follows a call last week by Comalie for an investigation into Mulunga’s alleged involvement in a payment of over N$100 million for two Angolan oil blocks.

The investigation is believed to be into a transaction involving Namcor and Angola’s state-owned oil company, Sonangol, related to oil-producing blocks in Angola.

Shortlist gets shorter

Comalie was shortlisted for the DBN top job alongside presidential economic advisor James Mnyupe and current DBN executives Jerome Mutumba, who is the bank’s corporate communications manager, Robert Eiman, who heads the small and medium enterprises division, and Saima Nimengobe, who heads the risk and compliance division.

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-23

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