Former attorney general and justice minister Sacky Shanghala is accusing the state of delaying the Fishrot fraud, corruption and racketeering trial, in which he and nine co-accused are charged.
Shanghala claimed in the High Court at Windhoek Correctional Facility on Friday that the state has been delaying the Fishrot trial and has held back evidence that should have been disclosed to him and the other accused in the matter.
Shanghala made the claims while addressing acting judge Moses Chinhengo on his application for a number of questions of law to be recorded and referred to the Supreme Court to be decided.
Shanghala and two of his co-accused, James Hatuikulipi and Pius Mwatelulo, are also asking the judge to stop plea proceedings in their case until the Supreme Court has decided the legal issues that they want to have referred to that court.
Plea proceedings started before Chinhengo in early December last year, but were then interrupted by an unsuccessful application for the judge to step down from the case.
Shanghala told the judge he wants the case to move back into a pretrial stage, so that he can ask for some of the charges against the accused to be thrown out.
He also claimed the state is still investigating the Fishrot case – about the alleged corrupt use of Namibian fishing quotas – and that he was arrested before the case had been fully investigated.
Shanghala noted that he has been held in custody for four years, seven months and 29 days since his arrest near the end of November 2019.
Court proceedings before Chinhengo are continuing.
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