Africa-Press – Namibia. THE 10 men facing charges in the Fishrot fishing quotas fraud and corruption case are due to have another pretrial hearing in the Windhoek High Court in the first week of February.
The 10 accused were informed by judge Christie Liebenberg yesterday that their case has been assigned to acting judge Kobus Miller, who will be handling the matter from now on, and that they have to appear before Miller for further pretrial proceedings on 3 February.
Liebenberg has been dealing with the case since the accused had their first pretrial hearing in the High Court in April last year. The 10 men – together with two companies, 12 close corporations and four trusts represented by individual accused – are due to be prosecuted on 42 criminal charges, which include counts of fraud, bribery, corruption, racketeering, money laundering and tax evasion.
The state is alleging that the accused acted together to devise a scheme in which they benefited financially from arrangements to give the Icelandic-owned fishing company group Samherji access to Namibian fishing quotas, through the state-owned National Fishing Corporation of Namibia (Fishcor) and the company Namgomar Pesca Namibia.
According to the state’s allegations against the accused, quota usage fees paid by the Samherji group of companies were channelled to the individual accused and corporate entities and trusts represented by them, whereas the fishing quotas to which Samherji had gained access had supposedly been allocated “for governmental objectives in the public interest”.
Amounts paid by the Samherji group and Fishcor in connection with those quotas included about N$81,8 million paid to the law firm De Klerk Horn Coetzee Incorporated, with those funds thereafter distributed to the accused, the state is alleging.
Former Fishcor chief executive Mike Nghipunya, one of his co-accused, James Hatuikulipi, and former minister of fisheries and marine resources Bernhard Esau are also alleged to have transferred N$15 million to the trust account of the law firm Sisa Namandje & Co Inc under the pretext that the funds were for governmental objectives, whereas the money was then used to pay debt of Hatuikulipi to business figure Vaino Nghipondoka and to make a donation to Swapo, through a regional coordinator of the party, Armas Amukwiyu.
The state is alleging that another of the accused, Tamson Hatuikulipi, who is Esau’s son-in-law, derived a financial benefit to the tune of at least N$57,6 million from the scheme, James Hatuikulipi’s benefit amounted to at least N$66,6 million as well as US$4,1 million, former justice minister Sacky Shanghala benefited through receiving at least N$27,7 million, and Namgomar Pesca Namibia director Ricardo Gustavo received at least N$22,4 million.
Another of the accused, Pius Mwatelulo, is alleged to have received some N$14,1 million from the alleged scheme, and Esau’s traceable benefit amounted to N$5,4 million, the state is claiming in its indictment. All of the accused except Gustavo, who was granted bail in an amount of N$800 000 in December, are being held in custody.
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