Africa-Press – Namibia. FORMER minister of justice Sacky Shanghala says several of his properties, as well as those of some other Fishrot accused confiscated by prosecutor general Martha Imalwa, are protected by the Constitution.
Shanghala, who is charged with corruption, fraud and money laundering, is currently awaiting trial, said this in an affidavit filed with the Windhoek High Court last week.
Confiscated assets belonging to Shanghala include his Klein Windhoek house, a Finkenstein estate, and properties registered under two companies – Koinseb Property 16 and Olea Investments Number 9 CC – in which Shanghala owns a 50% stake.
Former Investec Asset Management Namibia managing director James Hatuikulipi used to be his business partner in Olea Investments. Court documents show the company was allegedly used to launder millions of dollars from Fishcor, among others.
Imalwa has also confiscated Shanghala’s luxury vehicles, including a Jaguar XKR-type coupe, a Mercedes-Benz ML430, a Mercedes-Benz C209, a Toyota Fortuner, a Land Rover Discovery, and a Land Rover 5.0.
This has left the former minister fuming. “I submit that Article 16 of the Namibian Constitution protects property, and in particular in this instance it protects the property owned by the defendants,” Shanghala said.
He criticised Imalwa for appointing two curators for the accused’s estates, claiming it violates their right to property. Curators are required to provide security for their obligations while in office of which assets may be forfeited to the state.
The court ordered Imalwa last month to hire the two curators to manage the properties on behalf of the state. This is allowed by the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
The curators will be paid from the accused’s estates. The disgraced former attorney general said Imalwa has not stated the curators’ daily and monthly fees.
“The two curators … would charge which I am certain will be an extremely sizeable compensation for doing work that the defendants were doing for free. This violates our Article 16 of the Namibian Constitution’s rights in that the estate would have to pay sizeable compensation to the applicant’s chosen curators,” Shanghala said.
He added: “The consequence of such a draconian order to be granted would dissipate our estate. I submit this is not to be the purpose of the restraint order.” Shanghala’s accounts at Standard Bank and Investec Bank have both been frozen.
The former minister, alongside former Investec Asset Management Namibia managing director James Hatuikulipi, Tamson Hatuikulipi and Investec Namibia clients director Ricardo Gustavo and Pius Mwatelulo, stand accused of corruption, fraud, and tax evasion while conspiring with former minister of fisheries and marine resources Bernhard Esau between 2014 to 2019.
The case involves as much as N$2,5 billion allegedly stolen from the state through the fishing industry. The accused will remain in custody until a main trial date is set.
