‘Fishrot’ accused seeks to petition CJ

Namibia’s former Justice Minister Sacky Shanghala will continue with his attempt to have seven ‘questions of law’ decided by the Supreme Court. Shanghala said he intended to petition the Chief Justice against the dismissal of his application to have his criminal trial halted until the Supreme Court has decided the matter. He informed Windhoek High Court Acting Judge Moses Chinhengo that he would address a petition to the CJ. The Namibian reports that the judge dismissed the application by Shanghala, his business partner James Hatuikulipi and another accused in the Fishrot case, Pius Mwatelulo, to have the legal questions reserved and sent to the Supreme Court in a judgment delivered two weeks ago. The application filed by Shanghala, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo near the end of May can only be instituted after the completion of their trial, Chinhengo concluded in his judgment. He also said four of the legal questions that Shanghala, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo wanted to be sent to the Supreme Court concern their right to a fair trial while they do not have legal representation at this stage, and were dealt with in a judgment on an application for his recusal from the Fishrot trial. ‘Those questions should not again be placed before the Supreme Court, which already had an opportunity to consider the same issue when one of the accused directed a petition to that court in an attempt to appeal against his judgment on the application for his recusal, which was delivered in March,’ he said. Chinhengo said he would give his decision on Shanghala’s request today.

Legalbrief reports that several suspects have been charged with fraud, corruption and money laundering in connection with the Fishrot fishing quotas corruption scandal. They are accused of having been involved in a scheme in which Icelandic companies paid them at least N$103m to get access to Namibian fishing quotas between 2014 and 2019.

Full report in The Namibian