Staff Reporter
THE bail application of Tamson Hatuikulipi, one of the Fishrot accused men, continued in the High Court today, with Hatuikulipi’s lawyer, Mbanga Siyomunji, tearing into the State’s main witness, ACC investigator Andreas Kanyangela, accusing him of agreeing with allegations made by whistleblower Johannes Steffansson, hook, line, and sinker, without conducting investigations.
This is Tamson Hatuikulipi’s third bid for bail, which he bases on new facts such as the delayed start of the Fishrot trial, which was meant to commence on 2 October 2023, deteriorating family relations as well as finances, and additional documents from a new discovery availed by the State.
Hatuikulipi, along with former ministers of cabinet, Bernard Esau and Sacky Shanghala, businessman Ricardo Gustavo, James Hatuikulipi, former Fishcor CEO Mike Nghipunya, Otneel Shuudifonya, Phillipus Mwapopi, and Nigel van Wyk, face over 40 counts, including fraud, theft, racketeering, money laundering, and contravening the Anti-Corruption Act, after allegedly corruptly receiving kickbacks of up to N$300 million to give a favourable position to Icelandic fishing company Samherji in the country’s fishing sector.
In today’s bail proceedings, Tamson’s lawyer put it to the State witness, ACC investigator Kanyangela, that payments received by Tamson were not bribes, as he acted as an agent for Samherji by linking them to fishing quota right holders as well as concluding sales agreements on their behalf.
Siyomunji added that one such entity is Robur Logistics which he said wanted to buy fish from Mermaria Seafood (a subsidiary of Samherji), and that it was Tamson who linked the two entities. To this, Kanyangela, however, added that there is no proof, such as invoices, that fish was indeed supplied by Mermaria Seafood to Robur Logistics. Siyomunji, however, argued that Tamson was merely an agent and could not have access to such invoices.
Further to this, the defence lawyer also questioned Kanyangela on averments made in the Deloitte report, in which Steffansson claimed that Samherji created a new payment arrangement in 2016 to divert money so that two-thirds of the funds could be paid directly into entities linked to some of the accused.
Siyomunji, however, pointed to a table in the Deloitte report which summarised the findings and questioned if there was any other entity invoiced other than Fishcor, to which Kanyangela said no.
State Prosecutor Iipinge, however, explained that whilst the table does not show the payments made or invoiced to Fishrot-accused companies, a further reading of the report showed that the diversion in payments was done by undervaluing the value of the fish quota supplied. For example, whilst the market value would be N$3,000 per metric tonne, only N$1,800 would be paid, with the remaining N$1,200 per metric tonne diverted to entities linked to the Fishrot.
To this, High Court Judge David Mansu, who is presiding over the bail application, warned the State not to speak on behalf of the State witness and only offer factual corrections to questions posed by the defence.
