Namibia’s ex-minister arrested, freed over fishing graft scandal

Written by Agence France-Presse (AFP)

A Namibian court on Sunday released an ex-minister after his arrest at the weekend following a Wikileaks report exposing alleged corruption in the fishing industry.

Former fisheries minister Bernhard Esau was arrested on Saturday for corruption, but freed after anti-corruption agency lawyers admitted that there was an error in their arrest warrant.

The scandal surfaced during the last leg of campaigning for the presidential election on November 27, in which incumbent Hage Geingob is vying a second five-year term, but is facing discontent over the ailing economy despite being one of Africa’s most resource-rich countries. 

Wikileaks

Esau and justice minister Sakeus Shanghala resigned last week after they were named in documents published by Wikileaks in which Iceland-based multinational fishing company Samherji is suspected of bribing senior Namibian officials for continued access to the country’s shores.

Court papers show that Esau was one of the key figures in the scandal involving N$150-million (US$10 million).

In a statement on Saturday the Anti-Corruption Commission said its investigations have so far “proven that conspiracy, bribery, corruption, fraud, money laundering and tax evasion were committed”.

Corruption scheme

“The cumulative evidence, either real or circumstantial, testifies to an apparent well calculated strategy meant to legalise a corruption scheme,” it said.

The state corruption watchdog said it established that an cooperation fisheries agreement entered between the Namibian government and neighbouring Angola in 2014 did not benefit the ordinary citizens or contribute to the economy.

Fishing is one of Namibia’s key economic sectors, second only to mineral mining.