Prosecutor General Martha Imalwa (PG) last week got a reprieve from Windhoek High Court judge Orben Sibeya in her fight to attach the assets of the Fishrot accused.

The PG applied for leave to file further affidavits from the Icelandic accused and a status report on the extradition proceedings for the Icelandic nationals as well as developments in the criminal investigation over the past two years, which she states, caused the delay to finalise the extradition proceedings. 

The defendants opposed the application and argued that the application was filed out of time and in bad faith. According to them, the PG had ample time to inform the court of the extradition proceedings. 

Advocate Raymond Heathcote, who represents the Fishrot accused, said the PG kept it a secret that she has additional information but decided to wait and only bring it forward now, although she had it all along.

Senior counsel Wim Trengove, who is acting on behalf of the PG argued that she proffered a reasonable explanation for the delay to make the formal extradition request for the Icelandic to be extradited. 

According to him, the criminal investigation, the joining of the Namgomar and Fishcor trials, the assistance request from Angola, and the various failed interlocutory applications from the Fishrot accused contributed to the delay in bringing this application and making the extradition request.

However, Judge Sibeya found that the delay by the PG was not unreasonable and granted her leave to file the papers. He further said that the Fishrot accused will have an opportunity to answer to the averments in the affidavits. He awarded costs on the scale of one instructing and two instructed counsels to the defendants.

Asset preservation

Imalwa has already succeeded in getting a restraint order against the assets and is now applying to have the assets, including cars, flats, erven, farms, and cash forfeited to the State – as final.

Sibeya granted an interim property preservation order, covering an array of assets linked to the six accused in the Fishrot case, as well as to companies and close corporations connected to them.

A property preservation order is normally the first order given in legal proceedings in which the prosecutor general later asks the court to order the forfeiture of assets linked to a crime.

The parties in the restraint application by the PG are former fisheries minister Bernard Esau, former justice minister Sacky Shanghala, former managing director of Investec Asset Management James Hatuikulipi, Ricardo Gustavo, Tamson Hatuikulipi and his wife Ndapandula Hatuikulipi, as well as her mother Suama Esau. 

The six Icelandic companies, and their directors Juliusson, Adalsteinn Helgason, and Egil Arnason, are also listed in the application.

PG’s allegations

In an affidavit, Imalwa alleges that Shanghala, James, Tamson, Esau, and Gustavo corruptly solicited and accepted or agreed to accept payments of not less than N$115 million from Samherji in Namibia as reward for securing fishing quotas for the Icelandic fishing group – and in addition received known payments of N$54.6 million outside Namibia.

The N$54.6 million, which Imalwa said was paid into a bank account of a company of James, Tundavala Invest, in Dubai, is regarded as payments that are meant to be shared among the participants in the scheme, she states in her affidavit.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has gathered evidence that will prove that the accused and corporate entities used by them committed corruption, fraud, tax evasion, money laundering and racketeering offences in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, Imalwa also
stated. The POCA application was postponed to 16 November. -rrouth@nepc.com.na