A new initiative by Namibias Government to root out official corruption has snared an early catch three people who,Namibian prosecutors charge,helped win a lucrative contract for a Chinese company recently headed by the son of Hu Jintao,the Chinese President. The charges against the three,including one Chinese national,have yet to be heard in court. There is no public evidence that Hus 38-year-old son,Hu Haifeng,or other high officials of the company,Nuctech Company Ltd,knew of the Namibian dealings. Reports of the charges have prompted China to block Internet surfers from searching for news about the younger Hu,Namibia or Nuctech,according to the California-based Internet site China Digital Times. The office of Namibias Prosecutor General Martha Imalwa said she has traveled to Beijing to request that Hu Haifeng be interviewed as a witness,not as a suspect. Until last year,Hu was President of Nuctech,a Beijing-based maker of advanced security scanners used in airports other traffic points. He has since been elevated to Communist Party secretary of Tsinghua Holdings,a state-controlled firm that runs Nuctech and 30 other businesses. Namibia prosecutors accuse Nuctechs Africa representative,39-year-old Yang Fan,and two Namibians of joining in a bribery scheme that secured a $55.3 million contract in May 2008 to install Nuctech scanners across Namibia. Most of the cost was to be borne by a so-called soft loan usually a loan at below market rates that Chinas Government granted Namibia on the condition that it purchased scanners from Nuctech. Namibias Government paid about $12.8 million to Nuctech in February. But prosecutors allege that most of that money was quickly transferred to a Namibian company listed as a Nuctech consultant,and then split among Yang and the two Namibian defendants.
