Fishrot bail hearing wobbly at the starting line

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Fishrot bail hearing wobbly at the starting line
Fishrot bail hearing wobbly at the starting line

Africa-Press – Namibia. A JUDGE is expected to decide in the Windhoek High Court today if a bail application by six of the men charged in the Fishrot fraud and corruption case will be going ahead, after lawyers representing the accused men indicated they are not ready yet for a bail hearing that was scheduled to start yesterday.

The hearing of a bail application by ex-minister of justice Sacky Shanghala, his business partner James Hatuikulipi, Pius Mwatelulo, former National Fishing Corporation of Namibia (Fishcor) chief executive officer Mike Nghipunya, Otneel Shuudifonya, and Phillipus Mwapopi was scheduled to begin yesterday, but did not get over the starting line after judge Shafimana Ueitele was informed that the men’s lawyers were not ready for the hearing yet.

Defence lawyer Lucius Murorua, representing Shanghala, Hatuikulipi, and Mwatelulo, told the judge a senior legal counsel who is to represent the three accused is not available during this week. Murorua asked Ueitele to defer the start of the hearing to Monday next week.

Fellow defence lawyer Milton Engelbrecht, who is representing Nghipunya, Shuudifonya and Mwapopi, informed the judge another lawyer instructed to represent his three clients would be ready for the bail hearing to start tomorrow.

Ueitele, remarking that it was not up to legal representatives to determine the court’s schedule, said the hearing of the bail application should start this morning.

Murorua also informed the judge that Shanghala, Hatuikulipi, and Mwatelulo would be aplying for bail on affidavits, meaning they would not be testifying in person or be fielding questions in cross-examination from the prosecution. Engelbrecht said Nghipunya, Shuudifonya and Mwapopi would present oral evidence to the court in support of their applications to be granted bail.

The six applicants, together with former minister of fisheries and marine resources Bernhard Esau, his son-in-law Tamson Hatuikulipi, Ricardo Gustavo, who is an ex-colleague of James Hatuikulipi at the company Investec Asset Management in Namibia, and Nigel van Wyk, who was an employee of Shanghala and James Hatuikulipi, are due to be prosecuted on a total of 42 charges, including counts of fraud, bribery, corruption, racketeering, money laundering and tax evasion.

Also indicted in the same case are two companies, 12 close corporations and four trusts represented by individuals among the 10 men charged in the matter.

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.

The state is alleging that Samherji got access to Namibian fishing quotas through the company Namgomar Pesca Namibia, of which Gustavo was the sole director, and the state-owned Fishcor, of which Nghipunya was the chief executive officer and James Hatuikulipi was chairperson of the board of directors.

The state is also alleging that quota usage fees paid by the Icelandic group 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 distributed to the accused, the state is alleging.

Nghipunya, James Hatuikulipi and 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 a debt of James Hatuikulipi to business figure Vaino Nghipondoka, and to make a donation to Swapo through a regional coordinator of the party, Armas Amukwiyu.

Shanghala, Esau, James and Tamson Hatuikulipi, Gustavo and Mwatelulo were arrested in late November 2019, and have been held in custody since then. Nghipunya, arrested in February 2020, Shuudifonya, and Mwapopi, who were arrested in December 2020, and Van Wyk, detained in December 2019, have also been held in custody since their arrests.

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