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Tamson presents evidence of legitimate deals for Samherji

Tamson presents evidence of legitimate deals for Samherji

Staff Reporter

FISHROT accused Tamson Hatuikulipi testified today that he and his brother, James Hatuikulipi, convinced three joint venture companies, which were fishing rights holders, to enter into Memorandums of Agreement with the Icelandic company, Katla Seafoods, a subsidiary of Samherji.

Hatuikulipi presented emails dating from 2012 to 2013 in court, which documented conversations between himself, James Hatuikulipi, Johannes Stefansson, and some of the owners of the joint ventures as they negotiated offers made by Samherji. This occurred in a highly competitive environment where international operators such as the Dutch, Russians, Chinese, Koreans, and local companies were attempting to enter into agreements with local fishing rights holders to catch their quotas on their behalf.


According to Hatuikulipi, this proved that he conducted legitimate business for Samherji by linking them to fishing rights holders and was not paid for bogus agreements.

“This information in the emails cannot be sent because someone was in a dummy agreement, my lord,” Tamson testified.

Katla Seafoods Namibia, the Samherji subsidiary company, entered into Memorandums of Agreement with three JVs, namely JV 2 known as Sinco, JV 5 known as Epando, and JV 7 (Yukor). The JVs in total would allow Katla to have access to 35,000 tonnes.

In an email titled “Vessels,” dated 7 November 2013, Fishrot whistleblower Johannes Stefansson, who worked for the Icelandic fishing company Samherji, sent an email to James Hatuikulipi and Tamson outlining who secured agreements with some of the joint ventures who were fishing rights holders.

“Hi Tamson, a few points: Russians have JV 1 and 4. They have the vessel Flipper Nine, but now they also have Grey Well assisting them. The Chinese have JV 3, 6, and 11. They brought in the vessel Sheriff, which is in worse condition to catch that quota. Samherji has JV 2, 5, and 7. They have the vessel Heinaste and are expected to finish the 35,000 tonnes of quota around the middle of December. Namsov has JV 8. The Dutch have the vessel Dierk and JV 9, and they have the quota from Brigadier Shivute. It has been very problematic for them. As it is said, they lost money for the first 6 months. They stopped for two months due to market problems. They paid a very high price for the quota. JV 10 has the vessel Green Sea. We learned that they have problems selling their fish. Namsov might be catching their quotas. The problematic vessels are Sheriff, Grey Well, and others. We have problems with many other vessels as they are following our vessels,” Stefansson wrote in the email.

Tamson testified that Samherji entering into these agreements with the three JVs proved that the hard work done by himself and James Hatuikulipi paid off. He added that initially, Samherji wanted to enter into agreements with all 10 JVs who were rights holders, as they wanted 50,000 metric tonnes worth of quotas.

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