Six men – Sacky Shanghala, Bernhard Esau, James Hatuikulipi, Tamson Hatuikulipi, Ricardo Gustavo and Pius Mwatelulo – accused in the N$150m fishing scandal appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
Shanghala and James were arrested at their farm in Omaheke on Wednesday, while Esau, his son-in-law Tamson, Gustavo and Mwatelulo were arrested in Windhoek later the same day.
Esau and Gustavo were arrested a few days after they were released from custody on Sunday after spending a day in police custody.
Their release came after Esau had approached the Windhoek High Court arguing that the warrant of arrest used to apprehend him was invalid.
When Esau and Gustavo were arrested, Shanghala and James were in Cape Town and they returned to Namibia on Monday.
Before they returned, their lawyers wrote to the ACC asking whether there were warrants of arrest issued against them because they wanted to hand themselves over to the police.
They are accused of fraud and money laundering charges emanating from the diversion of fishing quotas to an Icelandic fishing company, Samherji.
The quotas diverted were purportedly meant for Angola as dictated by a 2014 deal signed by Esau and the former Angolan fisheries minister.
The case was postponed to Friday for bail hearing.
