Africa-Press – Namibia. FORMER National Fishing Corporation of Namibia chief executive Mike Nghipunya says the state-owned company’s annual profits and asset base grew consistently during the time he was at its helm, before his arrest in connection with the Fishrot fraud and corruption scandal.
“For me it has been a tremendous achievement,” Nghipunya remarked in the Windhoek High Court yesterday, after telling judge Shafimana Ueitele that Fishcor was transformed into a profitable company following his appointment as its chief executive officer in 2014.
Nghipunya gave an account of Fishcor’s financial results while testifying in a bail hearing taking place a year and four months after a first application by him to be granted bail failed in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court. An appeal against the refusal of his application for bail was likewise dismissed in the High Court near the end of October last year.
He did not testify in support of his bail application last year, when he instead relied on a sworn statement to set out the grounds of his request to be granted bail. The testimony Nghipunya (37) is giving before Ueitele is the first time he is stating his case in person in reaction to the charges he has been facing since his arrest in February 2020.
Nghipunya has been held in custody since his arrest. In a case now pending in the High Court, he is facing charges under the Anti-Corruption Act, together with counts of fraud, racketeering, money laundering and theft.
The charges are based on allegations that Nghipunya and his co-accused facing the same charges, conspired to give the Icelandic group of fishing companies Samherji access to fishing quotas allocated to Fishcor, and diverted quota usage fees paid by the Samherji group and also the NovaNam fishing company group to themselves.
The state is alleging that Nghipunya and his co-accused misappropriated N$81,8 million from Samherji and Fishcor, also misappropriated N$26 million paid by the NovaNam group for hake fishing quotas which had been allocated to Fishcor, and further committed fraud through which they pocketed amounts of N$10,3 and N$4 million respectively through the procurement of fish feed for aquaculture projects and fish for drought aid.
In his testimony, Nghipunya commented on the charges: “This whole case is a misunderstanding of lawful activities.” He also stated: “I have carried out my functions in the best interest of Fishcor at all times.”
Nghipunya testified that Fishcor made a loss of about N$1,5 million and had assets valued at N$156 million on its books in 2014, when he was seconded from the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, where he was employed as an economist, to Fishcor to serve as its acting CEO.
“The company was in dire need of help, to say the least,” Nghipunya said.
He recounted that Fishcor owed banks some N$50 million and owed the government about N$60 million in quota levies at the time of his appointment. “The company was technically insolvent,” he said.
In the first year that he was at the helm at Fishcor, its finances were turned around and it recorded a profit of N$38 million in 2015, followed by profits of N$40 million in 2016 and N$67 million in 2017, Nghipunya said. By 2018, he added, the value of assets on the company’s books had grown to N$730 million.
Given his experience as an economist in the fisheries ministry and the knowledge he had gained analysing Namibia’s hake fishing sector, which was the heart of Fishcor’s business, it is baseless to say that his appointment as acting CEO in May 2014 – followed by his appointment as CEO in December 2016 – was not proper, Nghipunya said.
He told the judge he is prepared to make a bail deposit of N$200 000 and adhere to conditions restricting his movements and requiring him to report to the police twice a week. The state is opposing his application to be granted bail. The hearing is continuing.
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