Niël Terblanché
The partnership between the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) and London-based global anti-corruption fund Restitution is still strong and good progress has been made to recover more than N$2.5 billion lost through the Fishrot scandal and other corrupt activities.
The parties entered into the partnership to create an avenue that will eventually result in international civil lawsuits against Samherji, the Icelandic seafood company that is central to the Fishrot corruption scandal.
Maitjituavi Kavetu, the Head of Legal at the AR movement said members of the organization visited the United Kingdom in September last year to meet with lawyers from Restitution. He added that some representatives from Restitution have, since meeting in London last year visited Namibia to meet with various Namibian authorities in order to get the process of recovering lost money underway.
“I am not able to reveal too much of what is actually transpiring, but I will say that substantive progress has already been made,” Kavetu said.
The AR signed a three-year partnership with the global anti-corruption fund in 2021 and according to Kavetu, much has been done to recover the money that belongs to all Namibians.
When the partnership deal was signed almost a year and a half ago the idea was to explore various approaches to assist with the recovery of assets that were stolen through misappropriation of fishing quotas.
Restitution would provide support on civil enforcement, asset recovery and capacity building.
Although the Namibian government has conducted an effective investigation and criminal prosecution of the suspects in the fishing quota scandal, no civil action has been taken to recover the stolen money and other assets.
The former Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Bernhard Esau, former Namibian Minister of Justice Sacky Shanghala, former Chairperson of National Fishing Corporation (Fishcor) Board, James Hatuikulipi, Esau’s son-in-law Tamson Hatuikulipi, former Fishcor Chief Executive Officer, Mike Nghipunya and Pius Mwatelula are the six main suspects in the corruption scandal.
All the suspects have been in custody and awaiting trial after being arrested at the end of 2019 on a variety of corruption charges.
The issue of the partnership with Restitution came to light again after the arrest of Marén de Klerk in South Africa last week.
De Klerk has since his arrest appeared in the Paarl Magistrate’s Court where procedures are underway to extradite him to Namibia.
The lawyer, who fled to South Africa late in 2019 is wanted by the Namibian law enforcement agencies for his role in the corruption, fraud, theft and money laundering.
De Klerk is accused of using his trust account for the distribution of ill-gotten gains to various accounts of the Fishrot suspects.
He has since applied to be set free on bail but the presiding magistrate in Paarl yesterday granted the state a postponement to Wednesday for its application to oppose the bail application.
Prosecutors in the matter are expected to submit a schedule five application to oppose De Klerk’s release. The Paarl magistrate issued a warrant of arrest for De Klerk on 1 February 2022, after the Namibian authorities requested his extradition.
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation’s serious commercial crime investigation unit and Interpol arrested De Klerk last Thursday in Paarl, more than a year after the warrant was issued.
Meanwhile, the Director General of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Paulus Noa has welcomed De Klerk’s arrest.
Noa, who is on record for saying that De Klerk has a case to answer and must therefore join the other accused persons in the Fishrot case, said that the ACC is confident that the court proceedings in Paarl will expedite his extradition.
The parties entered into the partnership to create an avenue that will eventually result in international civil lawsuits against Samherji, the Icelandic seafood company that is central to the Fishrot corruption scandal.
Maitjituavi Kavetu, the Head of Legal at the AR movement said members of the organization visited the United Kingdom in September last year to meet with lawyers from Restitution. He added that some representatives from Restitution have, since meeting in London last year visited Namibia to meet with various Namibian authorities in order to get the process of recovering lost money underway.
“I am not able to reveal too much of what is actually transpiring, but I will say that substantive progress has already been made,” Kavetu said.
The AR signed a three-year partnership with the global anti-corruption fund in 2021 and according to Kavetu, much has been done to recover the money that belongs to all Namibians.
When the partnership deal was signed almost a year and a half ago the idea was to explore various approaches to assist with the recovery of assets that were stolen through misappropriation of fishing quotas.
Restitution would provide support on civil enforcement, asset recovery and capacity building.
Although the Namibian government has conducted an effective investigation and criminal prosecution of the suspects in the fishing quota scandal, no civil action has been taken to recover the stolen money and other assets.
The former Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Bernhard Esau, former Namibian Minister of Justice Sacky Shanghala, former Chairperson of National Fishing Corporation (Fishcor) Board, James Hatuikulipi, Esau’s son-in-law Tamson Hatuikulipi, former Fishcor Chief Executive Officer, Mike Nghipunya and Pius Mwatelula are the six main suspects in the corruption scandal.
All the suspects have been in custody and awaiting trial after being arrested at the end of 2019 on a variety of corruption charges.
The issue of the partnership with Restitution came to light again after the arrest of Marén de Klerk in South Africa last week.
De Klerk has since his arrest appeared in the Paarl Magistrate’s Court where procedures are underway to extradite him to Namibia.
The lawyer, who fled to South Africa late in 2019 is wanted by the Namibian law enforcement agencies for his role in the corruption, fraud, theft and money laundering.
De Klerk is accused of using his trust account for the distribution of ill-gotten gains to various accounts of the Fishrot suspects.
He has since applied to be set free on bail but the presiding magistrate in Paarl yesterday granted the state a postponement to Wednesday for its application to oppose the bail application.
Prosecutors in the matter are expected to submit a schedule five application to oppose De Klerk’s release. The Paarl magistrate issued a warrant of arrest for De Klerk on 1 February 2022, after the Namibian authorities requested his extradition.
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation’s serious commercial crime investigation unit and Interpol arrested De Klerk last Thursday in Paarl, more than a year after the warrant was issued.
Meanwhile, the Director General of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Paulus Noa has welcomed De Klerk’s arrest.
Noa, who is on record for saying that De Klerk has a case to answer and must therefore join the other accused persons in the Fishrot case, said that the ACC is confident that the court proceedings in Paarl will expedite his extradition.
