The infamous request by corruption-tainted former fisheries minister Benard Esau for a dual sim card iPhone, as depicted in a 2019 Al Jazeera documentary, is haunting him as he seeks to be released on bail.
Yesterday, while taking the witness stand in the Windhoek High Court, Esau narrated the events that led to the meeting that was secretly filmed as part of the Al Jazeera documentary, ‘The Anatomy of a Bribe’, which aired on 1 December 2019.
Esau testified that in 2019, when Rwandan President Paul Kagame was on a state visit to Namibia, he was invited for dinner by local lawyer Sacky Kadhila Amoomo.
At the time, Amoomo was a member of the Marine Advisory Council and a shareholder of Omualu Fishing.
The meeting took place at a Chinese restaurant in Klein Windhoek.
“I was invited to be introduced to ‘investors’ from Hong Kong… I was introduced as the minister of fisheries to these people that called themselves asset managers. They said the Hong Kong market was unstable, and they wanted to move their investment into the Namibian fishing industry,” Esau yesterday testified.
He said it was at that meeting the dual sim card phone issue was discussed.
“I took out two cellphones and said it is very inconvenient for someone to have two cell phones. And I said, ‘I understand that in Hong Kong there is a phone that can take two sim cards’… I was just registering the issue of the inconvenience of carrying two phones,” narrated Esau.
He said after he received a black iPhone, offered sometime afterwards, he never used or kept it – and he later returned it through Amoomo.
“I said, take this sim card phone to these people. I had a suspicion of these people. Are they really investors or not? … I was also afraid. I did not know these people. I only met them two times. I had to play it safe and sound,” said Esau.
In his testimony, Esau was adamant the transcription of their meeting from Al Jazeera had been tampered with to suit a particular agenda.
“As I have said, this thing has been tampered with. It does not capture (in the transcription) that they said they funded the Frelimo party in Mozambique. They took out what was fitting for them and kept what suited the case of bribery,” said Esau.
His lawyer, Florian Beukes, said the former minister was not charged in relation to meetings he had with “investors” as filmed by Al Jazeera. So, it was irrelevant for the State to enquire about them.
In his quest for bail, Esau has continued to deny any wrongdoing.
During his evidence-in-chief, Esau said he had nothing to do with the Fishrot scheme and said that everything he did, including the agreement with Angola, as well as signing off on the governmental objective scheme, was above board.
According to Esau, he was not alone in the decision to use fishing quotas to achieve government’s objective of eradicating hunger and assisting the fishing industry, arguing that the decision was a collective conclusion by Cabinet.
The former fisheries minister maintained his role was to facilitate the process on behalf of Cabinet.
Esau is awaiting trial alongside former justice minister Sacky Shanghala, former Fishcor CEO Mike Nghipunya, former Investec Namibia (now Ninety-Nine) CEO James Hatuikulipi, his nephew Tamson Hatuikulipi, former director of Namgomar Pesca Namibia, Ricardo Gustavo, Pius Mwatelulo, Otneel Shuudifonya and Phillipus Mwapopi.
They are charged with several counts of fraud, racketeering, money laundering, contravening the Anti-Corruption Act, theft, tax evasion and their alternatives.
It is alleged they conspired to change Namibia’s fisheries legislation to provide unfettered access to the country’s rich fishing resources to international fishing conglomerate, Samherji, from Iceland, in exchange for bribes of millions of Namibia dollars.
In the bail quest, Esau is joined by Nigel van Wyk.
They are asking the High Court to release them on bail on new facts after they had their previous bail applications refused.
The hearing is scheduled to continue today before Judge David Munsu.
- mamakali@nepc.com.na