THE former manager of Standard Bank Namibia's Rundu branch has been on the run from the Police since last month after allegedly swindling the bank out of millions of dollars.

A Police spokesperson, Chief Inspector Angula Amulungu, yesterday afternoon confirmed the incident.

According to him, a charge of fraud was registered at Rundu in July. He said: "A case of alleged fraud has been opened. The investigation is at a sensitive stage."

Amulungu said he cannot divulge more information. "That would likely jeopardise the investigation. This person is still at large, and by revealing more information, we will keep him from handing himself over."

He did, however, ask The Namibian to appeal to the suspect to "come back".

"Tell this fellow to come back, because he has been playing hide and seek [with the Police]."

The Police spokesperson would not deny nor confirm rumours that the suspect has fled the country. "That I don't know," he said.

Meanwhile, Standard Bank Namibia was tight-lipped about the incident yesterday.

Its spokesperson, Rejoice Itembu, said she was in a meeting all afternoon and would not be able to "consult with the relevant people in time".

She said she could also not refer the matter to someone else as "I am a one-man show".

The company's manager of forensic services, Roman Bock, could "not understand" why he was approached for comment.

He fumed: "What's the point of me informing you if you have [already] spoken to the Police. I have nothing to tell you. I don't think it is appropriate."

Bock maintained that this reporter has "no right" to quote him. He insisted to first enquire from Amulungu why the information about the incident had been shared with the media before he would get back to The Namibian.

However, he did not honour his undertaking to phone back yesterday afternoon.

Although no one was prepared to reveal the exact amount, it is understood to be around N$3 million.