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MosselbayonTheline | First With The News

Geingob shows Esau, Shanghala the 'fish'gate
 
By Jade McClune
 
NAMIBIAN FISHERIES Minister Bernhard Esau and Justice Minister Sacky Shangala were forced to stand down from their ministerial posts yesterday following explosive revelations of high-level bribery and corruption within the fishing sector amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars, which point towards the likelihood that the former ministers will face criminal prosecution.
 
Impeccable sources close to the Presidency told Confidente yesterday that President Hage Geingob had asked for the immediate resignation of the two ministers, who are heavily implicated in what may prove to be the biggest corruption scandal yet exposed in the history of independent Namibia.
 
Speculation was rife yesterday, following the release of a database and publication of an international investigation by Wikileaks, Al Jazeera, Namibian reporters and the daily paper Stundin in Iceland that fingered Esau and Shangala as central figures in multifaceted corruption within the fisheries sector.
 
Afro Namibia1
 
Axed Namibian fisheries minister Bernhard Esau being quizzed by a journalist from Iceland on his involvement in the 'Fishrot' saga
 
It emerged this week that the Icelandic fishing firm, Samherji, paid hundreds of millions of Namibian dollars in bribes to politicians and related individuals in Namibia to obtain a fishing quota that laid the foundation for much of the company's billion-dollar profits in recent years.
 
Stundin said a cache of confidential records availed to them in the form of email correspondence, company records, video footage and WhatsApp messages showed how profits and bribes flowed through a network of offshore tax havens into the pockets of politicians and company executives.
 
 
Pelagiese vis
 
The Icelandic paper claimed that Samherji has since 2012 paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to individuals linked to Fisheries Minister Bernhard Esau to secure access to a fishing quota.
 
“According to documents available about Samherji in Namibia's operations, large payments, amounting to ISK 2 billion (N$238 million), were made to parties making decisions on fisheries issues on behalf of the Namibian state.
 
In addition to paying bribes, Samherji had set up a website for offshore companies where the company engaged in “capital transfers with low transparency and unclear tax payments”.
 
 
 
FISCHOR IN SPOTLIGHT
 
Stunden said “One of the people who has received payments from Samherji is James Hatuikulipi, chairman of the board of a state-owned company called Fishcor, which among other things distributes quotas to shipping companies in the country.
 
“Another one that has been paid is his nephew, the son-in-law of Fisheries Minister Esau, Tamson Hatuikulipi.
 
The third is Namibia's current Minister of Justice Sacky Shangala, who is one of the pioneers in organising the business, including owning one company that received payment from Samherji.
 
“The fourth is Mike Nghipunya, CEO of the state-owned company Fishcor, which [the whistleblower] says has received payments from Samherji through intermediaries.”
 
 
The case is now being investigated in several countries, including Norway.
 
 
 
Stundin noted that Samherji is by far the largest shipping company in Iceland, factoring in domestic and foreign operations. It generated profits of around N$14.4 billion between 2011 and 2019.
 
 
Part of this huge profit can be attributed to Samherji's operations in Africa.
 
 
 
Samherji's operation in Namibia makes up about 10 percent of annual income of the Samherji group,” with revenues of close to a billion Icelandic Kroner a year, it was estimated.
 
The deep-going investigation produced evidence that Samherji was, in fact, paying bribes for quotas in Africa, including through payments to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates from its partner in Cyprus, Esju Seafood, which Stundin said could be called “the centrepiece of the international operation of the Akureyin fishing company”.
 
“Among other things, Samherji paid over US$4 million, close to half a billion, to a Dubai-based company, Tundavala Investment Limited, owned by James Hatuikulipi, the chairman of the state-owned company Fishcor in Namibia, from 2014 to 2019 to help Samherji's access to Namibia's fishing quota in the country and in Angola.
 
Pelagiese vis1
 
Hatuikulipi is a close relative of the son-in-law of Minister of Fisheries Bernhard Esau, ‘Fitty’ Tamson Hatuikulipi. Fitty's wife, named Ndapandula, is the daughter of Esau.
 
“The payments were made through Esju Seafood Limited, a holding company and fish company of Samherji in Cyprus, and Noa Pelagic Limited, another Samherji company in Cyprus.
 
Payments from Samherji's companies to these individuals in Namibia amount to more than half a billion kroner”, (circa N$60 million at today’s exchange rate).
 
‘CONSULTANCY PAYMENTS’
 
According to the whistleblower, Jóhannes Stefánsson, a former company employee, Samherji paid a bribe for the very first quota the shipping company acquired in Namibia. The payments were called “consultancy payments” at Samherji, but as the former managing director of Samherji in Namibia from 2012 to 2016, Stefánsson says these were in fact bribes.
 
Stefánsson said he made the decision to reveal what he knows about the company because he feels bad for Namibia – a poor country with the greatest wealth disparity in the world where about one-fifth of the population lives below the poverty line.
Stefánsson, who is assisting the Namibian Police, said of Samherji: “They do not hesitate to bribe and break laws to make the most profit out of the country and leave nothing but … money in the pockets of corrupt parties.”
 
 
He said he paid money to the minister of fisheries and others in Namibia on behalf of Samherji from 2012 until 2016 when he left the company.
“Payments continued to be received by the Namibians after he left Samherji in July 2016, and the last transfers from Samherji to Tundavala Investments in Dubai, the company of James Hatukulipi, were in January 2019, according to evidence seen by Stundin.
 
“ More than half of the nearly ISK 500 million (N$ 60 million) bribe paid by two of Samherji's Cyprus companies to Tundavala Investments, totalling just over ISK 265 million, was paid out after John left Samherji in Namibia in July 2016.”
 
“Samherji now fishes in Namibia with two to three factory trawlers, Geysir, Saga and or Heinaste, each of which catches 3,500 tonnes of horse mackerel per month. Alongside these tens of billions of revenue, the total bribe amounts to about and more than a billion dollars.”
 
Horse mackerel
 
 
TAX HAVENS
 
Stefánsson also claimed that about US$100 million of Samherji's income in Namibia could not be traced, and suspects that this money was taken out of Samherji, possibly through tax shelters.
 
“It can therefore be said that a steady stream of money stems from Samherji's operation in Namibia, as well as from  Samherji's holding companies in Cyprus, such as Esju Seafood, and is in at least three of the world's tax havens, Marshall Islands, Dubai and Mauritius.
 
In addition, numerous payments are made in large sums to all kinds of offshore companies, including the British Virgin Islands. Little is known about most of these companies.”
 
No answers were received from Thorstein Má Baldvinsson, CEO and largest shareholder of Samherji, about claims of bribery. When employees of Kveik news asked Baldvinsson about the bribery allegation on October 28, he preferred not to answer questions but spoke instead about the weather. No answers to the bribery were in fact received from two of the largest shareholders and key executives of Samherji.
 
Confidente was not able to obtain on the record responses from the parties involved by the time of going to press, but a statement from the Presidency was expected to be released by Thursday morning.
 
ASKED TO PAY
 
According to the report, Stefánsson said that in 2012, “Fitty Tamson Hatuikulipi asked him to pay Esau, the minister of fisheries . . . 
 
He claims to have called Aðalstein Helgason, the managing director of Kötla Seafood, who was his next manager, and asked him about it.
 
"I called Aðalstein and told him that I was to pay the Minister of Fisheries 500,000 Namibian dollars.
 
“Then Adalsteinn told me that whenever I had the opportunity to pay the minister of fisheries, I should pay the minister of fisheries. He somehow put it this way. I took it out in cash and let Tamson have it. Tamson was an intermediary in this. I did this twice.”
 
He said the minister received personal pay, even though the amounts were small compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars that the data show the three closest to him received from Samherji.
 
“However, these are the examples of direct payments, as he was supposed to receive them through an intermediary.
Whether and how much Bernhard Esau, the minister of fisheries, receives from the hundreds of millions of kroner that the trusts have paid from Samherji over the years is still an issue to be shown or mapped, since the case data does not
cover cash payments or their fate,” the report said.
 
Esau, Shangala pushed out: 
 
Afro NamibiaAfro Namibia2
 
 
The Anti-Corruption Commission: Paulus Noa
 
We are busy with investigations. We are looking at many things. What is reported is one part of broader investigations. The allegation is that this was an [quota] agreement between Namibia and Angola and some people to line their pockets.
 
 
That is the source of our investigations. It involves a lot of companies (both locally and internationally).
It is a daunting task that is taking up a lot of time. It is a cross-border investigation in collaboration with our counterparts. This is not news to us, what is reported, that is. We have collected documents and we will continue to do more. We have more than what is reported.”
The arrest of the two ministers at this stage will not necessarily guarantee a credible case before court.
The attachment of their properties will be determined by evidence collected in terms of the POCA law (Prevention of Organised Crime).
 
We cannot do things based on people’s emotions, as this will spoil a good case. A majority of information we gathered was with the help of people from outside the country while local people have a tendency of working in collusion with those suspected of corruption. Had it not been for those sources outside the country, we would not have developed this case to
where it is now. We will continue to collect information to prove whether or not there is a case.
 
Political commentator
 
Dr Hoze Ririuako
 
The issue of corruption is being used by those that are campaigning for Swapo as a yardstick, saying that the government is corrupt because the video clips that we saw (on social media) are very incriminating, while we take cognizance of the fact that the due process in any institutional law system like ours, means nobody is guilty until proven guilty in a competent
court of law.
But, given the gravity of the incriminating clips the President and the party are caught between a rock and hard place because these people are on the list...that will create another paradoxical type of consideration.
 
 
Political Commentator
 
Henning Melber
 
I think if evidence of large scale corruption is credible enough, a sacking of the two culprits from their current posts is not enough. Then they should be at least for the time being suspended from all offices (including MP status), as long as any investigations and maybe legal proceedings are pending. Their assets should also be seized and frozen until it is established if and how much money they have illegally appropriated, which then should be confiscated and returned to the state.
Given that the President terminated their posts in government with immediate effect, there seems to exist sufficient plausible evidence that they did wrong. Then consequences should be bigger than their mere dismissal from cabinet.
 
 
Afro Namibia
 
Axed fisheries minister Bernhard Esau
 
Afro Namibia2
 
Axed justice minister, Sacky Shanghala 
 
 
‘I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING’
 
In secretly recorded video footage obtained by the investigating team, the fisheries minister can be seen negotiating in a hushed voice with Samherji executives at what appears to be his farm about the payment of “200,000”.
He raises some concern about “money laundering” regulations and about the costs of maintaining the farm, which he
said he runs at a loss.
 
Such compromising footage, observers have said, raise the prospect that the minister was vulnerable to blackmail if it
were used against him in fisheries-related negotiations.
 
Esau when challenged by journalists at a recent summit in Spain about his involvement with Tundavala Investment
Limited, the company owned by Hatuikulipi in Dubai, said repeatedly: 
 
 
“I don’t know, I don’t know anything.
 
Go and investigate some other things. I don’t know the company. I never invited them (Samherji). They came to introduce themselves.”
 
 
 
“What about payments to the company in Dubai, which is owned by James Hautikuilipi?” the reporter pressed.
“I don’t know, I don’t know anything,” the minister persisted.
 
“Do you know your son in law said he was going to bring money to you?”
 
“Go investigate some other things,” Esau retaliated. “I don’t know anything.”
 
Based on the data released this week, investigative journalist Ingi Freyr Vilhjálmsson concluded Samherji's business
“strategy in Namibia can be said to have been so successful, partly because the company had ‘political support all
along’, secured by hundreds of millions of bribes called consultancy fees.”
 
– Background report by Stundin
 
Also read: 

Former Namibian minister arrested after Al Jazeera investigation

Former Minister of Fisheries Bernhard Esau arrested following corruption and money-laundering allegations.

by
 
 
#Fishrot: Also read: 

Icelandic and Russian captains arrested as fishrot scandal deepens

Amid the unfolding bribery and money-laundering scandal that has rocked the local fishing industry, Icelandic captain Arngrimur Brynjolfsonn and Russian Yuri Festison were on Thursday arrested for fishing illegally some 200 nautical miles from the Namibian shoreline.

https://medium.com/@Jade_Lennon/icelandic-and-russian-captains-arrested-as-fishrot-scandal-deepens-d28d73262d16>

#Fishrot: Also read: 
 
FISHCOR overpaid for fish factory by N$50m, gets fishing quota worth N$1,8billion that will also benefit Angolan-based partner.

The fish factory ownership will be foreign-dominated since it is managed by a new company called Seaflower Pelagic Processing, a joint venture between Fishcor (40%) and the Angolan-based African Selection Fishing Namibia (60%).
by Ndapewoshali Shapwanale, Shinovene Immanuel
THE state-owned National Fishing Corporation of Namibia (Fishcor) bought a fish factory at the coast for N$160 million in 2016, amid concerns that the parastatal overpaid by as much as N$50 million for the building.

The Namibian reported this week that fisheries minister Bernhard Esau handed Fishcor a fishing quota worth more than N$1,8 billion over a 15-year period. This deal would also benefit an Angolan-based company which partnered Fishcor.

It has turned out that Fishcor did not only get a sweetheart deal from the fisheries ministry, but the parastatal paid N$50 million more on the fish factory that is old.

The details and background of this transaction are included in documents obtained by The Namibian, while seven people who were either involved or directly briefed on this matter, confirmed the details of this deal.

Most of the people did not want to be named because they fear that the fisheries ministry would cut their fishing quotas in retaliation for their comments.

Etale Fishing, which closed in 2013, laying off about 700 workers, owned the property through its subsidiary, Etale Properties.

The sources said Etale Fishing put the factory up for sale in 2015 for N$110 million, which was the valuation of that property. A source said the factory was valued by another valuer at N$90 million in 2015.

Etale Fishing eventually sold the factory in 2015 to well-connected Walvis Bay businessman Jose Luis Bastos, who was a director of Etale at the time.

The exact price paid by Bastos for the factory is unclear, but two people said it was between N$70 million and N$85 million. Bastos then sold the factory to Fishcor the following year for N$160 million.

Bastos declined to comment on the price he bought the property for from Etale.

“I cannot tell you. I don't want to be rude to you, but my business is my business. I sold the property two years ago,” he said.

Fishcor never publicly advertised the tender for buying the fish factory, a decision that would have given the state-owned fishing company better options.

Esau's supporters claim that the minister's decision to spoon-feed Fishcor with 50 000 metric tonnes of fish every year (around N$120 million) is aimed at empowering Namibians.

Some critics have, however, argued that the Fishcor transaction is favouring a state-owned entity that has a history of failing and forcing the closure of private fishing companies which employ thousands of Namibians.

In fact, the new fish factory ownership will be foreign-dominated since it is managed by a new company called Seaflower Pelagic Processing, a joint venture between Fishcor (40%) and the Angolan-based African Selection Fishing Namibia (60%).

One of Etale Fishing's former directors told The Namibian this week that the sale of the factory was “very questionable”, and that the state-owned company must explain and account for the transaction.

“They must explain how they ended up being the buyers of that property,” the former owner-director said, adding that fisheries minister Esau should also explain the purchase of the property.

Esau did not want to comment on Fishcor when approached by The Namibian on Wednesday, saying he can only comment after his ministerial budget discussion was completed in parliament.

As it stands, Fishcor's new partner in Seaflower Pelagic Processing, which is majority-owned by a South African businessman based in Angola, will take up the market left by Etale Fishing and Bidvest Fishing that is expected to close any time soon after reduced quotas.

The former director said the fall of Etale Fishing is a setback to empowerment in Namibia.

“This was the only black-owned processing plant in the country at the time. I cannot even tell you how everything happened. You know when you are standing in the middle of a storm, a real storm, a hailstorm, you don't know what is going on around you, and the next thing you know is everything is over. This is what happened with Etale,” the ex-director said.

Fishcor demolished the Etale factory, but the former owner said the factory had not reached the end of its useful economic life, as claimed by Fishcor.

Fischor plans to build a N$530 million fish factory, but people familiar with the factory said even this amount appears inflated.

The Namibian understands that several Cabinet ministers are nervous about the Fishcor saga.

A person familiar with this matter said Fishcor board chairperson James Hatuikulipi and the parastatal's management briefed the board last year, and some board members visited the plant at Walvis Bay.

DENIAL

Fishcor's chief executive, Mike Nghipunya, told The Namibian last week that the purchase of Etale Properties was a strategic move “as it is the only available piece of land with quay (besides the sea) access”.

 
Also read the follow-up article:
 
Seaflower Pelagic Processing ready to start operation by mid-January 2019:
 
 Pelagiese vis2
 
 
 

Horse mackerel could stem pilchard job losses

 

WALVIS BAY– The only hope for saving jobs in the pilchard industry is by allocating horse mackerel quotas to United Fishing Enterprises and Etosha Fishing companies.

This was said by the chairperson of the Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations, Matti Amukwa, and the president of the Namibia Seamen and Allied Workers' Union, Paulus Hango, on Wednesday.

The two companies own fishing rights for pilchard, the fishing of which was barred for the next three years to allow the stocks to recover in an announcement made by information minister Tjekero Tweya on Tuesday.

Approached for comment on Wednesday, Amukwa said the best solution would be to allocate horse mackerel quotas to the two fishing companies so that workers can retain their jobs.

Another suggestion is that the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources arranges with other horse mackerel right holders, for their catches to be processed at United and Etosha Fishing.

Some of the horse mackerel right holders – Namsov Fishing, Kuiseb Fishing and Gendev – do not have land processing factories.

The processing factory at United Fishing closed last year due to low catches, but Etosha managed to sustain its operations by importing pilchard from Morocco, though they still had to retrench some workers.

As such, more than 3 000 employees from the two companies lost their jobs since last year.

Amukwa said it is not clear whether the stock will recover in the next three years and that if it did not, the jobs would remain at risk.

Hango also agreed that horse mackerel canning is the solution.

He, however, said it could be difficult for fisheries minister, Bernhard Esau to give such quotas to companies who do not have rights, considering that the public and right holders could object.

“I personally feel for the people who lost their jobs and those who might follow if this situation is not addressed. Our industry is supposed to create jobs, not to retrench people,” Hango said.

About 600 seasonal and 200 permanent workers are currently employed at United and Etosha Fishing.

Also speaking to the media on Wednesday, managing director of Etosha Fishing, Pieter Greeff said the company will continue to import fish from Morocco and that there would be no job losses next year.

Greeff admitted that there will be no profit as the company will only be paying salaries and other operational costs to stay afloat while monitoring the situation. – Nampa

 
 
 
 
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Comments  

0 #2 CS 2021-05-20 08:51
Pieter Greeff and his buddy Stephen Dondolo just laid off people from Glenryck because these workers cannot move to Cape Town. Dondolo who is a big cheese in the anc is in the front line of this, using racial classification as a weapon, and Greeff is towing the party line. At this moment 2021/05/20, people are being retrenched and replaced by "previously disadvantaged" people for exploitation. There's so much corruption in the fishing trade and Dondolo took advantage by buying his rights in to government. It's a sad day for many people who lost their income due to greed. This is all inside info from the people who worked closely with these two "men".
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