Africa-Press – Namibia. FISHROT-accused Ricardo Gustavo, who is alleged to have played a key role in one of the companies at the centre of the Fishrot fishing quotas fraud and corruption case, should know by the middle of December if he has been granted bail after two years in jail.
The hearing of a bail application by Gustavo was concluded in the Windhoek High Court yesterday with judge Herman Oosthuizen scheduling the delivery of his judgement on Gustavo’s bail bid for 15 December.
In closing arguments, defence lawyer Trevor Brockerhoff said there is nothing before the court that shows Gustavo would interfere with witnesses and evidence in the case or abscond if released on bail.
Appropriate conditions attached to bail – such as requiring that Gustavo should report to the police on a regular basis, restricting him to his home, and requiring that he should wear a device through which his whereabouts can be monitored – would eliminate the risk that he might flee after being released on bail, Brockerhoff argued.
According to Brockerhoff, the Fishrot trial would not take less than four years to be concluded once it starts. While Namibia’s Constitution protects an accused person’s right to a speedy trial, the reality is that a speedy trial will not be happening with the Fishrot case, he argued.
The Constitution also states that if a trial does not take place within a reasonable time, an accused person should be released, he added. With Gustavo’s assets in effect frozen under a Prevention of Organised Crime Act restraint order since November last year, his family will be able to raise N$250 000 for a bail deposit, Brockerhoff said.
On behalf of the state, deputy prosecutor general Cliff Lutibezi said there has been a genuine public outcry about the case in which Gustavo and his co-accused are charged.
The case involves public resources which were misappropriated by people, including two ministers who were supposed to act in the public interest, Lutibezi said.
Adding that a total amount of N$317 million is alleged to have been misappropriated through the use of Namibian fishing quotas to which the accused in the matter got access, Lutibezi argued that in the event of a conviction after a trial heavy sentences are likely to be imposed.
Considering the seriousness of the charges Gustavo is facing, there is a real likelihood that he would abscond if released on bail, he argued. Gustavo cannot be trusted to adhere to bail conditions, and granting him bail would not be in the public interest, Lutibezi also argued.
He told the judge the trial could start next year, and that according to the prosecution’s projections it could be concluded within a period of a year.
Gustavo was the sole director of the company Namgomar Pesca Namibia, which Gustavo said was a subsidiary of an Angolan company, Namgomar Pesca SA, which was granted horse mackerel quotas totalling 50 000 tonnes in Namibia.
The state is alleging that Namgomar Pesca SA is not registered in Angola, and that the companies were used to get access to fishing quotas which were then sold to the Icelandic-owned fishing company group Samherji, whose payments for the quotas were allegedly pocketed by the accused in the Fishrot case.
Brockerhoff argued that Gustavo has a defence to the charges he is facing, as according to him he only acted on instructions from the Angolan shareholder of Namgomar Pesca Namibia and did not act independently.
Again, the state had a different view of the evidence heard in the bail application. Lutibezi argued that the prosecution has a strong case against Gustavo, and that its evidence would be sufficient to prove the charges against him. Deputy prosecutor general Ed Marondedze represented the state with Lutibezi. Gustavo has been held in custody since his arrest on 27 November 2019.
Also in the High Court yesterday, a planned bail application by another of the accused in the case, Nigel van Wyk, was again postponed – this time to 6 December. This was after judge Johanna Salionga was informed that the state and Van Wyk’s defence lawyers have reached an agreement in the matter, of which the details should still be finalised.
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