By Shinovene Immanuel | 6 April 2021
DOCUMENTS submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) show how former minister of justice Sacky Shanghala instructed a Fishrot lawyer to fund Swapo politicians and president Hage Geingob’s party campaigns.
Some of these details, contained in emails and bank statements, which have not been reported on in the media in detail in the past, are included in the attachments to an affidavit provided by lawyer Marén de Klerk to the ACC last year.
De Klerk’s affidavit was allegedly leaked to disadvantage his state witness chances.
Funds were paid from Celax Investments Number One – a company that was allegedly controlled by Swapo proxies to launder funds from a government-owned fishing company.
The media has since last year reported on Celax Investments as an entity controlled by De Klerk, but its role was not clear.
An investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and The Namibian found that Celax was set up to specifically fund Geingob’s Swapo campaign.
Al Jazeera co-published that investigation last week.
Geingob’s spokesperson denied the allegations, calling the president’s record on fighting corruption “unblemished”, but declined to comment in detail as the information is part of an ongoing court case.
“At no point did the president instruct or ask someone to engage in fraudulent activities,” presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari said in an email.
Swapo’s spokesperson and deputy minister of defence and veterans’ affairs, Hilma Nicanor, did not respond to repeated attempts for comment.
INSTRUCTIONS
The Namibian has no additional evidence that Geingob instructed Shanghala to fund his campaign.
Geingob’s supporters say Shanghala and Hatuikulipi abused the president’s name for their benefit.
However, bank records and emails show that the former justice minister called the shots on some payments towards Geingob’s party campaign.
For instance, at around 01h00 on 17 August 2017, Shanghala instructed De Klerk to make several payments to Swapo-related companies, regional offices and individuals.
“As agreed, there should be a N$5 000 subsistence and travel (allowance) for the band [the Ndilimani Cultural Troupe].
“They will be departing for Katima Mulilo to perform at the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) congress there,” Shanghala said in an email – a few months before the Swapo congress.
He added: “Could you therefore release the N$75 000 for the 15 staff members, please? We should also release the N$50 000 for their logistics.
“As they leave tomorrow, the sooner the better. My apologies for the delay. The total is N$120 000,” the former minister said.
A few days later, he also instructed the lawyer to pay N$85 000 that was shared between the then acting SPYL secretary Veicco Nekundi (N$65 000) and Ephraim Nekongo (N$20 000) who was to take over the Swapo youth league’s leadership a few weeks later.
Nekongo and Nekundi have denied any wrongdoing in the past.
Another beneficiary was the Ndilimani Cultural Troupe’s manager, Jesse Nombanza, whose vehicle loan in 2017 of around N$443 000 was paid by De Klerk.
Ndilimani Cultural Troupe member Joseph Gabriel, known as ‘Matangara’ in Swapo circles, was paid N$150 000 on 19 December 2017.
CAPE TOWN MEETING
The 2017 payments were born out of an alleged scheme that started in 2016. A few days after Christmas in 2016, two men met in the VIP area of the Shimmy Beach Club in the swanky waterfront district of Cape Town, in South Africa.
They were allegedly plotting how they could divert state funds to keep Geingob in power.
Gathered at the posh club were Shanghala, then attorney general, and James Hatuikulipi, then chairman of the board of the state-owned National Fishing Corporation of Namibia (Fishcor).
Joining the two was Adriaan Louw, a Namibian businessman with decades of experience in southern Africa’s fishing sector.
There, they formulated the first stages of a scheme that would channel millions of dollars from Namibia’s lucrative fishing industry to Swapo, according to De Klerk.
Private correspondence shows that Shanghala and Hatuikulipi also asked De Klerk to set up a shell company that would become instrumental in Swapo’s alleged fishing scheme: Celax Investments.
The two men would control Celax, even as the lawyer owned it on paper.
Then, in January 2017, Hatuikulipi and Shanghala arranged for Fishcor to go into business with Louw.
Together, the three men formed Seaflower Pelagic Processing, a public-private joint venture between Fishcor and Louw’s company, African Selection Fishing.
Under the original terms of the venture, African Selection Fishing would be the majority shareholder of Seaflower, owning 60%, while Fishcor would own 40%.
The same month Seaflower was set up, in January 2017, Bernhard Esau, then minister of fisheries, awarded Fishcor a licence to catch 50 000 tonnes of horse mackerel per year for 15 years, which it then shared with its new partner, African Selection Fishing, which would in turn run the fishing operation.
At a market rate of US$850 per tonne, this would be worth some US$637 million.
The award was given without a competitive bidding process, violating Namibian laws.
Bank statements, invoices, internal correspondence, and government documents show that top government officials set up several Swapo-controlled companies that received nearly US$4,5 million skimmed from a US$637 million fishing deal between Fishcor and African Selection Fishing.
Some of this money, leaked notes from party officials show, was allegedly then handed to Swapo electors in what appears to have been a vote-buying campaign ahead of the party’s 2017 congress.
Around the time the Seaflower venture was formalised, Celax Investments, the company that would end up siphoning money to pay off the Swapo officials, was secretly brought in as a partner.
Because it was black-owned, Celax was given 25% of African Selection Fishing’s shares in Seaflower to comply with planned ‘empowerment’ legislation.
Louw told OCCRP last week that Celax Investments “was meant as a reserve vehicle” until Namibia’s empowerment laws were passed, and his company had received annual confirmation that it was not active.
He said he had no “benefit or interest in these shares”.
Banking records show that Celax received N$200 000 from ‘Fishcor’, which was used as a reference for the payment on 30 June 2017.
The following day, Shanghala sent De Klerk a list of 17 recipients who had performed services for Swapo and were to receive transfers from the company.
Bank records show that De Klerk made more than 37 payments to 18 companies and individuals on behalf of Celax, totalling some N$58 million between July 2017 and November 2018.
On 4 August 2017, De Klerk received a deposit of N$14 million in his law firm’s trust account from Mermaria Seafood Nam, a local fishing company owned by Samherji, the Icelandic firm at the centre of the Fishrot corruption scandal.
Hatuikulipi instructed the lawyer to send the N$14 million to Celax’s bank accounts a day later.
Esau’s lawyer, Richard Metcalfe, said the former fisheries minister “vehemently denies all allegations against him”.
* This story has been amended to indicate that De Klerk’s affidavit was allegedly illegally leaked to disadvantage his case.
This is one awesome blog article.Thanks Again. Cool.
Thanks for the blog.Really looking forward to read more. Cool.
Very neat blog post. Awesome.
I value the article post.Really looking forward to read more. Keep writing.
Major thanks for the article. Want more.
Fantastic blog post.Much thanks again. Awesome.
Thanks a lot for the article. Keep writing.
Thanks for the article post.Really thank you! Really Cool.
I truly appreciate this blog article.Much thanks again. Cool.
I think this is a real great blog article.Thanks Again. Great.
Im grateful for the article.Really thank you! Fantastic.
A big thank you for your blog article.Really thank you! Much obliged.
Im obliged for the article.Really thank you! Fantastic.
Major thankies for the post.Really thank you! Will read on…
I really liked your blog post.Thanks Again. Awesome.
Major thankies for the article post. Will read on…
Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic blog article.Much thanks again. Great.
Muchos Gracias for your blog. Awesome.
Major thankies for the post.Much thanks again. Much obliged.
Really appreciate you sharing this blog.Much thanks again. Will read on…
Im obliged for the blog.Thanks Again. Keep writing.
Fantastic blog.Thanks Again. Much obliged.
A big thank you for your blog article.Really looking forward to read more.
I loved your blog.
Really enjoyed this article.Much thanks again. Really Great.
Great article.Really thank you! Really Cool.
I am so grateful for your article.Really looking forward to read more. Much obliged.
I am so grateful for your blog.Thanks Again. Really Great.
I really enjoy the blog post.Much thanks again. Really Cool.
Say, you got a nice article post.Really thank you! Fantastic.
I am so grateful for your article post.Much thanks again. Really Cool.
I really enjoy the blog.Much thanks again. Cool.
Fantastic blog article. Keep writing.
Hey, thanks for the article.Really thank you! Much obliged.
Really enjoyed this blog.Really looking forward to read more. Really Cool.
Appreciate you sharing, great blog post.Thanks Again. Fantastic.
Enjoyed every bit of your article.Really thank you!
Thanks for the article.Much thanks again. Fantastic.
I think this is a real great blog post. Awesome.
Major thankies for the blog. Want more.
I value the blog post.Really thank you! Really Great.
I am so grateful for your blog article.Really thank you! Want more.
Thanks a lot for the blog post.Really thank you! Much obliged.
Very neat article.Much thanks again. Awesome.
Thanks again for the article.Really thank you! Much obliged.
Major thanks for the article. Keep writing.
Thanks a lot for the blog post.Really thank you!
Thanks again for the post. Will read on…
Wow, great article. Really Great.
Thank you for your article.Thanks Again. Will read on…
Thanks a lot for the blog article.Much thanks again. Want more.
Hey, thanks for the article.Much thanks again.
I truly appreciate this article.Really looking forward to read more. Awesome.
I am so grateful for your post.Really looking forward to read more. Much obliged.
Thank you for your blog.Really thank you! Want more.
Fantastic post.Thanks Again. Awesome.
Wow, great blog post. Want more.
I loved your blog.Much thanks again. Great.
I am so grateful for your article.Really looking forward to read more. Fantastic.
Really informative article post. Great.
Great blog article.Thanks Again. Cool.
Im grateful for the post. Really Cool.
I really liked your article post. Cool.
Enjoyed every bit of your article post.Much thanks again. Really Great.
Wow, great article. Want more.
Thanks-a-mundo for the blog article. Want more.
Very good post.Much thanks again. Really Cool.
wow, awesome blog article.Thanks Again.
Very neat blog article.Really looking forward to read more.
I loved your blog post.Really thank you! Will read on…
This is one awesome article.Much thanks again. Keep writing.
Really appreciate you sharing this blog post. Really Great.
Major thanks for the blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Really Cool.
Im grateful for the article post. Awesome.
I value the blog. Fantastic.
wow, awesome article post.Really looking forward to read more. Keep writing.
Muchos Gracias for your post.Much thanks again. Great.
Thanks so much for the blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Awesome.
Thanks-a-mundo for the blog post.Much thanks again.
Really informative blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Will read on…
I am so grateful for your blog article.Really thank you! Want more.
Very informative blog.Thanks Again. Really Cool.
Wow, great blog.Really thank you! Much obliged.
wow, awesome blog.Much thanks again. Want more.
Enjoyed every bit of your blog article.Thanks Again. Will read on…
Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic article. Fantastic.
Major thankies for the article. Want more.
I cannot thank you enough for the article post.Much thanks again. Really Cool.
Awesome blog article.
Thanks-a-mundo for the blog post.Thanks Again. Much obliged.
Major thanks for the post.Thanks Again. Great.
Thank you for your blog post.Much thanks again. Cool.
Thanks a lot for the blog article.Really thank you!
Enjoyed every bit of your blog article.Thanks Again. Awesome.
Really informative article post. Fantastic.
Fantastic article post. Much obliged.
Have you ever considered creating an e-book or guest authoring on other blogs?
I have a blog based upon on the same ideas you discuss and would really like to have you share
some stories/information. I know my readers would enjoy your work.
If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send
me an e-mail.
krups espresso machine how to use
what is in a latte
how long does it take to complete the indy 500
can you use a prius to jump another car
difference between cappuccino and latte and mocha and americano
soil ph for azaleas
bull shooter live
homemade yard aerator
krups cappuccino maker instructions
rat hunting night vision
Really enjoyed this blog article.Really thank you! Cool.
Thanks-a-mundo for the post.Much thanks again. Much obliged.
Appreciate you sharing, great blog post.Much thanks again. Awesome.
Great blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Cool.
I value the blog.Really looking forward to read more. Fantastic.
I really enjoy the article.Really thank you! Keep writing.
Looking forward to reading more. Great article. Much obliged.