Angolan minister’s son was link in Fishrot company

A SON of a former fisheries minister of Angola was the immediate boss of Fishrot case accused Ricardo Gustavo in a fishing company in which Gustavo was employed.

Gustavo testified in the Windhoek High Court yesterday that João de Barros was his direct superior or principal in the company Namgomar Pesca Namibia, where Gustavo was employed and of which he was the sole director.

He further told judge Herman Oosthuizen he now knows that Barros “was obviously representing those who own Namgomar Pesca SA” – an Angolan entity of which Namgomar Pesca Namibia was a subsidiary, according to Gustavo.

Barros is a son of Angolas former fisheries minister Victoria de Barros Neto.

Recounting an exchange of emails between himself, João de Barros and Fishrot whistleblower Jóhannes Stefánsson, Gustavo said the correspondence indicated that Barros had to report back to his bosses in the Namgomar Pesca companies, which were involved in horse mackerel fishing in Angola and Namibia.

When he became involved with the companies, Gustavo said, the Angolan mother company had existing operations in Angola and had already been allocated fishing quotas in that country’s waters.

“The narrative that Ricardo Gustavo cooked up something in his mind, together with his co-accused, using an Angolan entity to benefit themselves, really in my view falls flat,” he said.

Gustavo was testifying on the first day of the hearing of an application by him to be granted bail after nearly two years in jail.

The state is alleging that Namgomar Pesca Namibia was set up by Gustavo and some of his co-accused – including James Hatuikulipi, who was a colleague of Gustavo at the Namibian office of the company Investec Asset Management, former fisheries and marine resources minister Bernhard Esau and former attorney general and justice minister Sacky Shanghala – as a means to get access to Namibian fishing quotas allocated under a fisheries cooperation agreement between Namibia and Angola.

Esau is alleged to have allocated horse mackerel quotas totalling 50 000 tonnes to Namgomar Pesca Namibia from 2014 to 2019. The company sold those quotas to companies in the Icelandic fishing company group Samherji, and the state is alleging that payments for those quotas were channelled to the accused in the Fishrot case.

Gustavo told the court the company Namgomar Pesca Limitada, which he said is the shareholder of Namgomar Pesca Namibia, also used the name Namgomar Pesca SA – a name which according to the state is not that of a registered company in Angola.

He also said as an employee and director of Namgomar Pesca Namibia, he was delegated powers from Namgomar Pesca Limitada, and he did not deal with that company’s shareholders, but with a nominee instead.

It was his job to make sure that Namgomar complied with regulatory requirements and met its fiscal obligations, he said.

He added: “I directed Namgomar to the best of my abilities.”

The allegations made against him by the state are not true, and he intends to fight against those claims, Gustavo said.

He is due to continue with his testimony today.

Gustavo is being represented by defence lawyer Trevor Brockerhoff. Deputy prosecutors general Cliff Lutibezi and Ed Marondedze are representing the state.