Niël Terblanché
THE decision by Namibia’s Prosecutor General to prosecute Marén de Klerk for his involvement in the Fishrot corruption scandal has taken life as there now are solid plans to have him extradited from neighbouring South Africa.
The lawyer, who is widely viewed as the person that facilitated certain payments through a shelf company to other suspects in the corruption scandal, that then distributed the money to beneficiaries in the Swapo Party, has been in hiding in South Africa since January 2020.
It is believed that he booked himself into a mental clinic to receive treatment for severe depression.
According to the Deputy Director-General of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Advocate Erna van der Merwe, the wheel to have the lawyer extradited back to Namibia has been set in motion.
“There are several steps to get the eventual indictment to have the suspect repatriated back to Namibia,” she said.
At the moment, a sworn affidavit has been made by the officer in charge of the Fishrot investigation.
From there, a warrant of arrest will have to be obtained from the court and then the indictment must be issued by the Prosecutor General, Martha Imalwa.
After the indictment is issued, the Ministry of Justice, as well as the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, will get involved to facilitate De Klerk’s extradition.
The indictment will have to specify the charges that De Klerk will face once he is repatriated.
Since he left for South Africa, De Klerk has issued two sworn affidavits.
In one of the affidavits, he set out the role he played in the fisheries corruption scandal and in another he denies that he fled from justice in Namibia.
He stated that he left Namibia to receive treatment for stress and depression.
Earlier this year, De Klerk also claimed that he lives in constant fear for his life as there was an alleged attempt to kill him while in South Africa.
