Staff Writer
Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani has written to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) demanding to know why no action has been taken against high profile individuals who are alleged to have also played a key role in the Fishrot saga.
This comes as the Windhoek Observer in April revealed that no extradition request had been sent for lawyer, Marén de Klerk, who is currently moving around freely in South Africa.
De Klerk is alleged to have played a key role in the syphoning of funds to the tune of N$50 million from the National Fishing Corporation of Namibia (Fishcor) through the trust account of his law firm, De Klerk, Horn and Coetzee Inc.
The PDM request also comes as lawyer, Richard Metcalfe, who is representing former fisheries Minister Bernhard Esau and his son in-law Tamson ‘Fitty’ Hatuikulipi in their bail hearing, questioned why no action had been taken against prominent lawyer, Sisa Namandje.
According to media reports, Fishcor is alleged to have paid N$17,5 million into his law firm trust account in 2015 and 2017. This money is allegedly linked to the Fishrot scandal.
“Although a number of suspects have been arrested and are currently facing prosecution for Fishrot, it seems like the ACC and the OPG have decided to turn a blind eye to the lawyers who willfully participated in this grand corruption syndicate, and facilitated the mass looting of Namibian funds through their respective firm trust accounts,” Venaani said in his letter to the ACC.
“We remain perplexed as to why the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Office of the Prosecutor-General (OPG) have employed a selective method of prosecution since this grand corruption syndicate was exposed in November 2019.”
“We draw particular attention to the fact that although there is an insurmountable amount of evidence before the ACC and the OPG, lawyers Marius de Klerk, Sisa Namandje and Sacky Kadhila have still not been arrested in connection with Fishrot. These are individuals who willfully abused their positions as legal practitioners and businessmen to facilitate the looting of our fishing sector. They are on record stating so, as it is in the Aljazeera investigation which you might have already seen.”
Contacted for comment, ACC Director General, Paulus Noa said the organization was not moved by allegations that it was being selective in its investigations.
“People can say what they want to say, I am not concerned because we know how to investigate. We know when to take action and when not to take action when it comes to our investigations,” he said.
Meanwhile, the High Court is on Friday expected to deliver its judgment in the case where the Law Society of Namibia (LSN) is seeking a search and seizure warrant to allow it to inspect the records of Namandje’s law firm Sisa Namandje & Co Inc trust account in relation to suspect transactions amounting to N$23 million.
Namandje allegedly refused to cooperate with the LSN, citing attorney-client privilege.
According to court documents, the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) brought to the attention of the LSN their concerns it had about suspicious transactions involving Namandje law firm’s trust account.
