Former minister of justice Sacky Shangala has notified the new judge in the Fishrot trial Marileze du Plessis that he intends to apply for leave to appeal two rulings that went against him.
The first is the ruling by Deputy Judge President Hannelie Prinsloo that dismissed an application by Shanghala, James Hatuikulipi and Pius Mwateluloto to have the decisions of former Fishrot judge Moses Chinhengo declared null and void and for the trial to start de novo (from scratch).
Judge Chinhengo resigned as the judge presiding over the Fishrot trial in July for “personal reasons” after Shanghala persistently seeked his removal.
Shanghala wanted Judge Prinsloo to declare that non-Namibian citizens can only be appointed as judges under a singular fixed-term contract of employment.
Judge Chinhengo was first appointed for a period of three months from September until December.
His tenure was extended further, a move Shanghala said was unlawful and unconstitutional.
The second ruling is that of Du Plessis which denied his application to receive copies of international agreements between Namibia, Dubai, Iceland and other partners.
This includes bilateral agreements between Namibia, Iceland, Norway and the United Arab Emirates in terms of the International Co-operation in Criminal Matters Act as well as to disclose to them responses obtained from those countries as a result of mutual legal assistance requests made by Namibia.
They further wanted the court to order the State to provide them information on communication between the Anti-corruption Commission and investigators of their case.
In addition, they are asking for an order directing the State to furnish them with information on meetings held by an integrated investigating task force that carried out an investigation in their matter, including the minutes of those meetings.
Judge Du Plessis dismissed all these applications but ordered the State to provide hard copies of the disclosure, including a second set to be stored at the consulting rooms at the court situated at the Windhoek Correctional Facility.
Shanghala informed Judge Du Plessis that he will bring an international application to dismiss the charges against them, as the evidence on which they were charged was obtained illegally and unlawfully.
He said he is still busy drafting the application, which currently entails 25 pages and at least 25 points that he will challenge.
Shanghala acknowledged that he received full disclosure from the State.
He, however, said he cannot say at this moment that he is satisfied with the disclosure, as he has not had a chance to examine the 17 boxes provided to him.
Judge Du Plessis remanded the matter to 22 September for Shanghala to lodge his application for leave to appeal.
He is representing himself, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo.
The judge excused the other accused from the proceedings of 22 September.
They are Ricardo Gustavo, former fisheries minister Bernard Esau, former CEO of Fishcor Mike Nghipunye, Tamson Hatuikulipi, Nigel van Wyk, Otneel Shuudifonya and Phillipus Mwapopi.