Charges are laughable, nonsensical – Shanghala  

Former minister of justice Sacky Shanghala, who has been detained since 2019, on Thursday labelled the charges against him as laughable, nonsensical, rubbish and devoid of sense in law.

Shanghala was responding to a charge put by deputy prosecutor general Cliff Lutibezi relating to an alleged contravention of a section of the Riotous Assemblies Act.

In the charge, the state alleges that Shanghala, together with some of his co-accused and Icelandic fishing company group Samherji, acted in common purpose and conspired with each other to fraudulently procure fish quotas in Namibia.

The charge is a first alternative to the eighth of 42 counts faced by the accused in the Fishrot fishing quotas fraud, corruption and racketeering trial.

The second alternative to the charge is a count of theft, relating to the alleged theft of 50 000 metric tonnes of horse mackerel quotas valued at N$150 million.

The main allegation in the charge is fraud, with the state claiming that six of the individual accused in the Fishrot case were operating as a syndicate with the objective of accessing fish quotas, while they were not fishing right holders in terms of Namibia’s Marine Resources Act.

The charge sets out that the accused misrepresented to their appointing authorities, the Cabinet and the government that former minister of fisheries and marine resources Bernhard Esau had negotiated, among others, a signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) that would seemingly promote mutual economic relations with Angola.

“The MoU was never meant to benefit Namibians but it was created solely to benefit the accused persons,” the indictment reads. Shanghala argued that to date, no statement was given by the Cabinet, appointing bodies or particularly his boss at the time, the late president Hage Geingob.

Shanghala also took a jab at presiding acting judge Moses Chinhengo, saying: “I understand you don’t understand fish [as] you come from a landlocked country.” Shanghala is charged alongside Esau, former Fishcor chief executive Mike Nghipunya, Ricardo Gustavo, James Hatuikulipi (former chairperson of Fishcor’s board of directors), Pius Mwatelulo, Phillipus Mwapopi, Otneel Shuudifonya and Nigel van Wyk.

“It goes from crazy to crazier. Now apparently, it’s against the Riotous Assemblies Act. Apparently, people conspired. The state hasn’t even disclosed any statements. It is laughable. Seriously,” Shanghala remarked in court, in response to one of the charges put to him.

He has, however, not pleaded to the charges, saying the court with Chinhengo as presiding judge lacks jurisdiction. Chinhengo in turn entered not guilty pleas on behalf of Shanghala.

On his part, Esau pleaded not guilty, but described the charges as “malicious and outrageous”. The plea-taking proceedings are scheduled to continue in the High Court at Windhoek Correctional Facility on Friday.