Staff Reporter
A THIRD bail application by one of the men charged in the Fishrot fraud, corruption, and racketeering case, Tamson ‘Fitty’ Hatuikulipi, continued in the High Court before Judge David Munsu in the capital.
Tamson, who brought forth the bail application based on new facts, has been in jail for four years along with his co-accused. Earlier this year, Tamson testified and finalized his evidence in chief on the matter, and he was cross-examined on August 20, 2024, by State Prosecutor Ezekiel Iipinge on the new facts he presented. Iipinge pointed out three restrained properties owned by Tamson that had delayed rental payments from tenants occupying them.
Iipinge added that it is not a new fact for bail that Tamson’s financial situation has deteriorated, but rather it is a natural consequence of his previous bail being denied. Iipinge further said that this argument is also based on Tamson’s fifth ground for seeking bail, which indicates that he is unable to provide emotional support to his children. Iipinge added that this, too, is a natural consequence of the court’s decision to deny him bail.
Iipinge further delved into emails presented by Tamson as new evidence, showing that the Icelandic company embroiled in the Fishrot case, Samherji, had approached other individuals to establish connections with the former Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Bernard Esau, in October 2011. Esau is also an accused in the matter.
Iipinge said that the evidence mentioned certain individuals, including Petrus Nehoya, Willie Human, and Heroldt Pupkewitz, who were approached by Samherji to gain an audience with the minister.
During cross-examination, Tamson argued that emails addressed to the late Namibian tycoon Harold Pupkewitz proved he was not the first link Samherji used to gain access to the minister.
“It was said that I was the link between the minister and Samherji for access to fishing quotas. I brought these documents to show that I was not the link to the minister; it was them,” Tamson argued.
State Prosecutor Iipinge further said that when looking at how fishing quota allocations worked, there was no need for an operator like Samherji to meet the minister to gain access to fishing quotas. They simply had to form joint ventures with rights holders who had already been allocated fishing quotas by the Minister of Fisheries to secure a catch agreement.
He added that the only reason behind Samherji’s strong drive to meet the former minister was to corrupt the entire process.
“Some were acting as conduits so that Samherji could corrupt the minister. They were middlemen. There is no evidence that they ever got Samherji to meet with the minister. Samherji had a strong desire to meet the minister even before engaging with the rights holders. After consulting so many people to no avail, they approached you (Tamson Hatuikulipi) as the new son-in-law. That is exactly why you showed your photographs at this first meeting, to prove who you are,” Iipinge said, adding that Tamson was able to accomplish in a month what others, whom Samherji had approached, could not achieve in a year.
Tamson, however, denied this and added that he had been paid consultancy fees by Samherji to enable the company to secure catch agreements with the JVs that were already rights holders. When asked to clarify the N$21 million he received, Tamson said the funds were commingled, and he could not distinguish between payments for the clients he brought to Samherji or for the success of the JVs.
