Zorena Jantze
SACKY SHANGHALA and five other men, who are implicated in the Fishrot corruption case, has returned to the Windhoek High Court where City Police officer Phillipus Mwapopi took the stand today. He was cross-examined by the state prosecutor on some of his dealings.
The hearing is expected to run from 24 January to 4 February 2022 and judge Shafimana Ueitele is hearing the case.
The state prosecutor, Cliff Lutibezi, delved deeper into the alleged dried fish products that were procured by Wanakadu Investments cc, in which Mwapopi allegedly holds sole interests.
Wanakadu was paid N$4.2 million by Fishcor to procure dried fish products for the national drought relief programme. Neither Fishcor nor Mwapopi has yet confirmed that they had received these products.
The dried fish is said to have been procured from the non-existent entity Flamingo Commodity Suppliers in which his co-accused, James Hatuikulipi, has interests in. In his opening statement Lutibezi questioned Mwapopi on the seriousness of the charges against him, which include racketeering, conspiring with his co-accused, fraud, theft, money laundering, and misappropriating of funds to the tune of N$370 million.
Taking the stand, Mwapopi however stated that the allegations against him are mere misunderstandings, adding that gauging from evidence provided by the State, he does not see anything that would land him in jail.
Lutibezi, who last year produced documents in which he showed that Nghipunya had a 50% interest in Wanakadu Investments cc, again queried Mwapopi about the ownership details of the business. Mwapopi once more denied claims that Nghipunya had any interests in Wanakadu and stated that he was the sole owner.
Mwapopi added that he sourced dried fish products for Fishcor from Flamingo Commodity Suppliers and was given a quotation by a certain Mr. Nicki.
“I was given a quotation by Mr. Nicki, I then provided my own quotation to Fishcor, with a letter and a picture of the products, and the payment was made. I went to Mr. Nicki, the supplier of Flamingo, and paid for the dried fish products I was procuring from them. The secretary of the CEO at Fishcor, Selma, said that the products should be delivered in Windhoek, but added that the arrangements were changed and that the products would be picked up by Fishcor itself,” Mwapopi testified.
He added that he informed Fishcor that the products would be at a warehouse at Karibib, however he could not provide a specific address for this business and only noted that Flamingo’s suppliers were situated in the main street of Karibib.
Mwapopi further testified that the dried fish would be procured for drought relief and would be distributed to Namibians, but added that some of this product were sold by community members. Mwapopi is said to have procured 200 bags of dried kingklip bones to the tune N$1.3 million, 150 bags of hake heads worth N$1.3 million, and 173 bags of horse mackerel for the drought relief programme.
State Prosecutor Lutibezi queried who these bones were fed to and whether it was given to the Namibian people? Mwapopi noted that the bones are quite edible and delicious.
Mwapopi however stated that he never saw the consignment delivered to Fishcor.
The court proceeds at 10:00 tomorrow.
