Shanghala claims conspiracy behind Fishrot case

Former attorney general and justice minister Sacky Shanghala is claiming the Fishrot fraud, corruption and racketeering case is the result of a conspiracy with political aims.

He is facing charges in the Fishrot case.

“There’s a conspiracy here,” Shanghala said towards the end of lengthy oral arguments by him before acting judge Moses Chinhengo in the High Court at Windhoek Correctional Facility on Friday.

Holding up the book ‘Fishrot – Fisheries and Corruption in Namibia’, which was published by The Namibian and UCT Press last year, in his left hand, Shanghala said: “Here’s the book, they’ve disclosed their conspiracy.”

He continued: “It should be no surprise I was arrested on election day, 27 November 2019. Twenty-seven November 2024 is election day.

“This book says, start the case so that the case can be drawn out, well into the election day, so that the electorate doesn’t forget what happened to Swapo in 2019.”

Shanghala also claimed: “Somebody has taken a hold of the criminal justice system. They’ve weaponised it, and they’re using financial crimes.”

He made the claims after accusing the prosecution of delaying the start of the Fishrot trial, which has been halted since an unsuccessful application for Chinhengo to step down from the case brought plea proceedings to a standstill in December last year.

Before making the allegation about a conspiracy on Friday, Shanghala claimed the state has been delaying his trial and has held back evidence that should have been disclosed to him and the other accused in the matter.

He made the claims while addressing Chinhengo on his application for a number of questions of law to be recorded and referred to the Supreme Court to be decided.

QUESTIONS OF LAW

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.

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 by Friday he had been held in custody for four years, seven months and 29 days since his arrest near the end of November 2019.

He added: “The conduct of the state in this case had been to delay, delay and delay.”

The questions of law that Shanghala, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo want to be referred to the Supreme Court deal with decisions that Chinhengo made during previous court appearances by the 10 men charged in the case before him, when he directed that the charges against the accused should be put to them for their pleas to be taken, although some of the accused do not have legal representation at this stage.

Shanghala, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo are also questioning the legality of Chinhengo’s appointment as an acting judge of Namibia’s High Court.

One of the questions on which they want an answer from the Supreme Court is about whether their right to a fair trial is being impaired and violated by the fact that they are without legal representation in their criminal trial.

In an affidavit filed at the court, deputy prosecutor general Cliff Lutibezi has alleged that Shanghala, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo are following a wrong procedure with their application for questions of law to be recorded and sent to the Supreme Court.

According to Lutibezi, such an application cannot be made at this stage of their trial, but should be made at the end of the trial.
The application should be dismissed as it will only result in a further delay of the trial, Lutibezi says.

Also addressing the judge on Friday, deputy prosecutor general Ed Marondedze argued that the application made by Shanghala, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo is premature and is intended to further delay the case.

Evidence disclosed to the accused in February this year had been requested by them and dealt with an investigation of alleged corruption in the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources before the investigation of the Fishrot case, Marondedze said.

That is not evidence that the state intended to use during the trial of the 10 accused in the Fishrot case, Marondedze said.

He also said the evidence that the state intends to use was disclosed to the accused in April 2021.

Chinhengo postponed the delivery of his ruling on the application to 8 August.

Only one of the accused, Nigel van Wyk, is free on bail at this stage.

The other accused – Shanghala, Hatuikulipi, Mwatelulo, former minister of fisheries and marine resources Bernhard Esau, former National Fishing Corporation of Namibia chief executive Mike Nghipunya, Esau’s son-in-law Tamson Hatuikulipi, Ricardo Gustavo, Otneel Shuudifonya and Phillipus Mwapopi – are being held in custody.