The Municipality of Walvis Bay has refuted allegations by its former legal representative, Metcalfe Beukes Attorneys, that crucial information pertaining to the RedForce investigation was withheld.
Metcalfe Beukes Attorneys was appointed by the Walvis Municipality to look into the debt collecting contract awarded to RedForce debt collectors, but the law firm last week announced that it was terminating its legal services to the municipality – amongst others because crucial information that could have helped investigations, was allegedly withheld.
According to Metcalfe, access to emails exchanged by RedForce and the relevant staff members of the municipality, was tailored and/or blocked for the period 01 January 2023 to 31 May 2023.
‘There is extremely relevant information contained therein which will provide further information into the appointment of RedForce Debt Management Close Corporation as exclusive debt collector for the Municipality of Walvis Bay. Such information has for obvious reasons been block
ed and/or tailored to prevent positive conclusions. This makes further investigation impossible,’ Advocate Richard Metcalfe wrote.
In a media release issued on Monday, the municipality however said it had given Metcalfe and his team its full cooperation from the onset of the investigation.
‘In an email dated 02 July 2024, Acting Chief Executive Officer David Uushona agreed to allow the municipal information technology (IT) team to provide the legal representative with access to all emails pertaining to RedForce and any related matters thereto as requested,’ the statement said.
Furthermore, Council noted that in an email dated 01 July 2024 in response to a letter from Metcalfe Beukes Attorneys, Uushona agreed to a request to re-interview 16 staff members to finalise the investigation.
That communication was then sent to all relevant parties requesting them to allow the 16 staff members to be allowed to attend the interviews. The second round of interviews was however cancelled by the legal representative a
nd subsequently followed by an unexpected Notice of Withdrawal letter on 17 July 2024.
‘Despite the council resolution to nullify the termination motion, the Office of the CEO allowed the investigation to continue and never instructed the investigation to be halted or terminated. As such, the claims by Metcalfe are rather surprising,’ it said.
Source: The Namibia News Agency