Africa-Press – Namibia. FORMER fisheries and marine resources minister Bernhard Esau and two of his co-accused in the Fishrot corruption and fraud case have withdrawn their applications to have more than N$6 million released from their restrained assets so they can pay their lawyers’ fees.
Lawyers Florian Beukes, representing Esau and his son-in-law Tamson Hatuikulipi, and Trevor Brockerhoff, representing Ricardo Gustavo, informed judge Orben Sibeya in the Windhoek High Court yesterday they decided to withdraw the applications to have money released from the men’s assets, which are restrained under a court order in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca).
This decision, for which the two lawyers did not disclose reasons, came as Sibeya was scheduled to hear oral arguments on the three men’s applications yesterday.
With Beukes and Brockerhoff not offering that their clients will pay the legal costs of the prosecutor general, who opposed the applications, Sibeya postponed the matter to tomorrow, to hear arguments on the issue of costs.
Gustavo was asking the court to order the release of an amount of N$2,8 million from his assets that have been under a Poca restraint order – in terms of which nobody is allowed to deal in any manner with the assets – since November 2020.
He informed the court in an affidavit he needed N$1,3 million to pay Brockerhoff for past legal services provided to him, and an additional N$1,5 million to meet his expected legal expenses in his pending criminal trial and legal proceedings in terms of Poca.
Esau and Hatuikulipi were each applying for an order to release N$1,5 million from their restrained assets to meet their expected further legal expenses, and also to have about N$428 000 released from the assets of each of them so they can pay outstanding fees charged by their lawyers.
In affidavits filed in response to the applications of Esau, Hatuikulipi and Gustavo, prosecutor general Martha Imalwa said they did not meet the requirements stipulated in Poca for an order to have money released from their assets to meet their legal expenses.
Imalwa stated that Esau, Hatuikulipi and Gustavo, and also every other person whom they are legally liable to support or maintain, did not under oath disclose all of their assets and liabilities, which is required by Poca, and did not show they cannot meet their expenses out of assets remaining unrestrained.
Imalwa further said the three men did not show that their expected future legal expenses of N$1,5 million for each of them are reasonable.
With respect to the legal expenses which the law firm Metcalfe Beukes Attorneys has already charged Esau and Hatuikulipi, Imalwa said the firm’s fees were not reasonable and should be assessed before any payment of legal expenses can be made.
She also claimed that Esau failed to disclose a bank account with a balance of about N$462 000, a unit trust investment of more than N$1 million, and a tax liability of N$2,3 million.
In addition to that, she stated, Esau’s wife, Swamma Esau, has continued to operate a bank account into which Esau’s monthly pension has been paid. According to Imalwa, that was in contravention of the Poca property restraint order.
Withdrawals totalling close to N$924 000 have been made from that account from November 2020, when the Poca restraint order was issued, to the start of December last year, Imalwa informed the court.
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