By: Justicia Shipena
Anti-corpution commission lead investigator Andreas Kanyangela told the court that documents in which Tundavala Invest Limited, a company owned by fishrot accused James Hatuikulipi was paid million were sourced from a device linked to his co-accused Ricardo Gustavo.
Tundavala is located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Kanyangela was testifying as a State witness on Tuesday in the bail application by six of the fishrot accused at the Windhoek High Court.
A pile of documents brought to court by Kanyangela indicate a memorandum of understanding (MoU) of articles of associations of Tundavala.
“This particular documents was also retrieved from a device linked to Ricardo Gustavo,” he said.
Gustavo was granted bail last month after challenging the State in the court of law.
According to Kanyangela the MoU has a stamp which indicates registered in files on 27 May 2014.
“The company may return the services of auditors, management, consultancy established in the United Arab Emirates. Hold a bank account with a financial institustion based in the United Arab Emirates,” he said.
He added that the documents show that subject to the office of the registrar the MoU may be amended by a resolution of members.
“We have a table with the names, addresses and signatures of the subscriber which is shows as Jame Nependa Hatuikulipi,” he said.
An email read before the court which came from Jón Óttar Ólaffson dated 20 July 2016 to Elgill Helgi Arnason with the subject ‘test’.
“An email to Elgill Helgi Arnason dated 20 July 2016 with a subject James Hatuikulipi and attachments James Hatuikulipi.vcf,” said Kanyangela.
Morever, he brought to court a document with the contacts of Hatuikulipi and Fishcor were indicated.
“Upon investigations, it was established that the email address shown in the document as that of Petrus Aashongo was used by James Hatuikulipi,” he added.
Moreover, Kanyangela told the court on 03 Sepetember 2016 an email was sent by Petrus Aashongo to Ólaffson on a PDF invoice for Tundavala.
“Hi Jon, I trust all is good today. We are making good progress. Will call later. See attached invoice as requested. Please send confirmation. Regards, James,” the mail reads.
Another email sent by Arnason on 23 January 2017 in regards to invoices was sent to the mail address alleged to have been used by Hatuikulipi.
The email reads: “Dear James, for the 10 000 ton of Namgomar we have paid in USD.”
In this vein it reveals two payments made in USD for fishing quotas of Namgomar.
“We paid on 27 October 2016 U$525 000 and on 22 September 2016 we paid U$525 000.”
In the mail Arnason further states that he paid 538 461 53 in two payments.
“Totalling paid in USD is U$1 588 461 53.”
Additionally, it provides payments in Namibian dollars made on 27 October 2016 and 03 November 2016 of which the first payment was N$4 million and another N$4 million.
“Totalling N$8 050 000 minus VAT of N$1 050 000 which equals N$7 000 000,” the mail reads.
According to Arnason in the mail, the price for the 10 000 ton quota amounted to N$28 000 000.
“We have paid N$7 000 000. We have paid 21 861 923 according to the exchange rate of U$13.7. Then we have a balance in our favour of N$761 923 so therefore we don’t understand the invoice received now. Regards, Egill Árnason.”
Aashongo ‘James’ then responds on 18 January 2017 saying: ‘Dear Egill, as discussed see attached the final invoice. Please advise when you have effected payment. Regards, Petrus.”
Last year, Kanyangela had said that according to whistleblower Jóhannes Stefánsson there was an agreement that the Samherji fishing company group would pay 75% of usage fees for fishing quotas obtained by the entity Namgomar Pesca SA to Tundavala.
He also had said that two Samherji companies paid US$4,1 million into a bank account of Tundavala.
He said Namgomar Pesca SA received fishing quotas totalling 50 000 tonnes in Namibia.
However, he previously revealed that Namgomar Pesca SA is not a registered company and was only used to get quotas for the benefit of the fishrot accused.
The fishrot bail continues tomorrow in the Windhoek High Court with witness testimonies from the State.
