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FISHROT’S GUSTAVO’S FATE IN THE HANDS OF SUPREME COURT

By: Eba Kandovazu

Prosecutor general Martha Imalwa will now be allowed to appeal the granting of bail for fishrot accused Ricardo Gustavo in the Supreme Court after chief justice Peter Shivute gave her the green light.

Gustavo’s victory was made possible by High Court judge Herman Oosthuizen in November last year. 

Initially, he had offered to pay N$ 200 000 bail. The judge has since granted him N$ 800 000 bail, on condition that he is confined to his home in Finkenstein estate, some kilometres outside Windhoek.

The judge also said authorities should make provision for a tracking device to monitor Gustavo’s moves. At the time, Gustavo indicated that he was offered a job, that he could work from his home. 

The granting of bail did not sit well with the prosecutor general, who sought leave for appeal, which Oosthuizen dismissed on the basis that the court has the discretion to impose bail conditions, to provide freedom to the accused in the interest of justice or the interest of the administration of justice. 

Advocate Ed Marondedze in the matter represents the State.

Gustavo is accused of having used fisheries agreements between Namibia and Angola to get access to fishing quotas to benefit him and the other fishrot accused. These include former fisheries minister Bernard Esau, former justice minister Sacky Shanghala and his former colleague at Investec James Hatuikulipi. He faces charges of fraud, racketeering and money laundering, amongst others.

In May this year, Judge Oosthuizen had refused to grant leave for the State’s Gustavo bail application appeal.

“I conclude that there is no reasonable prospect that the Supreme Court will come to another conclusion or that the Supreme Court will come to a conclusion that I exercised my discretion wrongly in the circumstances,” Oosthuizen said at the time. 

Gustavo’s co-accused Tamson Hatuikulipi is also battling for release, emotionally citing he has not seen his children since his incarceration in 2019. Gustavo, during bail, was in floods of tears in furnishing evidence to be released; this was also seen in the ongoing bail application of Hatuikulipi.

Earlier this year, former justice minister Sacky Shanghala, former National Fishing Corporation of Namibia (Fishcor) chairperson James Hatuikulipi, former Fishcor CEO Mike Nghipunya, Pius Mwatelulo, Otneel Shuudifonya and Phillipus Mwapopi were denied bail by the High Court judge Shafimana Ueitele.

Nghipunya’s lawyer at the time of the bail hearing, Thabang Phatela, insisted that even though the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) says his client received money for services he never rendered, services were rendered, state witnesses saying otherwise were not honest in their testimonies.

Jose Ramon Canosa, the manager of NovaNam, a company that bought fishing quotas from a Fishcor subsidiary, said that although millions had to be paid to Gwanyemba Investment Trust, which belongs to, Nghipunya, Gwanyemba did not provide consultancy services to NovaNam.

Wanakadu Investment and Fine Seafood Investment Trust also did not provide services to NovaNam, despite invoicing the company.

“Services were rendered, and he knows. All the invoices were for consultancy services offered by my client. Your argument is that upon receiving the invoices, he did not read the contents. Did you confirm that he didn’t read the contents of the invoices? If you find that he scrutinized these invoices, what will you tell the court,”? Phatela remarked, questioning whether or not the ACC has a quality assurance department to fact-check witness statements.

ACC investigator Andreas Kanyangela says that Nghipunya had time to explain why services he rendered but failed to do so before he was arrested.

 

Eba Kandovazu

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