‘No special treatment for tender fraud suspects’

Deputy police commissioner Abner Agas has confirmed that the suspects in Namibia’s high-profile fishing tender scandal have been transferred to the Windhoek Correctional Facility, but stressed that they were not receiving preferential treatment. Former Fisheries Minister Bernhard Esau, former Justice Minister Sacky Shanghala and four other suspects have been charged with corruption, fraud and money laundering in the ‘Fishrot’ scandal. The Namibian reports that Agas said their transfer was a ‘normal internal process’ prompted by over-crowded detention facilities. ‘They get no special treatment. They are all treated the same and they are also not in just one cell together … they are mixed up with others,’ Agas said. Legalbrief reports that they were arrested following an undercover investigation by Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit that was based on documents leaked by Johannes Stefansson, a former employee of the Icelandic fishing conglomerate Samherji, to the whistle-blowing group WikiLeaks. They will re-appear in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on 20 February after abandoning their bail applications.