Africa-Press – Namibia. Former justice minister and attorney general Sacky Shanghala plans to appeal against two High Court decisions connected to the Fishrot fishing quotas fraud, corruption and racketeering case.
Shanghala informed acting judge Marilize du Plessis in the High Court at Windhoek Correctional Facility yesterday that he will be asking her to allow him to appeal against a ruling that she delivered last week in the criminal case in which he and nine other individuals are charged.
He will also file an appeal against a judgement delivered by deputy judge president Hannelie Prinsloo on an application in which he challenged the appointment of former acting judge Moses Chinhengo, who presided over court proceedings in the Fishrot case, Shanghala said.
In addition to those envisaged appeals, Shanghala indicated, he is preparing a court application about evidence that he said was unlawfully collected during the investigation of the case.
He will also be asking for the Fishrot trial to be placed on hold until that application has been dealt with, he added.
“I believe it is part of a fair trial for me not to be dragged through a trial which is based on illegalities,” he said.
Du Plessis postponed the case to next Monday (22 September) after Shanghala informed her of his appeal plans.
In the ruling delivered by Du Plessis at the start of last week, she dismissed most of an application by Shanghala and two co-accused, James Hatuikulipi and Pius Mwatelulo, for the state to be ordered to disclose further documentation to them, in addition to the contents of the case docket already disclosed to them.
The material that Shanghala, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo wanted the state to be ordered to disclose to them includes responses obtained from Iceland, Norway and the United Arab Emirates as a result of mutual legal assistance requests made by Namibia in terms of the International Cooperation in Criminal Matters Act.
In addition to that, Shanghala, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo wanted the court to direct the state to furnish to them information on communication between the Anti-Corruption Commission and investigators of their case.
Du Plessis only ordered the state to deliver an additional printed copy of the docket contents already provided to the accused, which was done on Monday this week.
In the application that was dismissed by Prinsloo on 20 August, Shanghala, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo asked the court to review and set aside the appointment of Chinhengo as an acting judge of the High Court.
They also wanted the court to declare that all actions taken by Chinhengo as an acting judge while presiding over the Fishrot case were unlawful and invalid, and to set aside all of those actions.
Shanghala, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo were claiming that Chinhengo’s appointment as an acting judge with affect from 18 September 2023 was unlawful and unconstitutional, because he was over the age of 65 when he was appointed and is a Zimbabwean citizen.
Prinsloo noted in her judgement that the constitutional article on which Shanghala, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo relied expressly excludes acting judges when referring to the retirement age of judges.
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