Zorena Jantze
HIGH Court Judge, Shafimana Ueitele, on Tuesday, 5 November, gave a forfeiture order for a total amount of N$6.5 million in the account of Fishrot accused lawyer Maren De Klerk and his law firm De Klerk, Horn and Coetzee (DHC) Legal Practitioners to the State.
De Klerk, who fled to South Africa in early 2020 after the Fishrot scandal exploded, is implicated alongside ex-cabinet ministers such as the former Minister of Fisheries, Bernard Esau, former Minister of Justice, Sacky Shanghala, and businessmen James Hatuikulipi, Pius Mwatelulo, Tamson Hatuikulipi, Mike Nghipunya, Otneel Shuudifonya, Phillipus Mwapopi, and Nigel van Wyk, who are accused of corruptly receiving payments of at least N$300 million to give a competitive advantage to Icelandic fishing company Samherji in securing access to horse mackerel quotas in Namibia.
Attempts by Namibian authorities to extradite De Klerk have to date failed.
On 18 October 2022, the Prosecutor General (PG), on an ex parte basis, launched an application in the High Court under section 51, Chapter 6 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA) to preserve certain properties: an amount of N$4,681,518.28 in a Bank Windhoek account held in the name of De Klerk, Horn and Coetzee Legal Practitioners Inc, and an amount of N$1,870,941.54 in a Nedbank account held in the name of De Klerk.
In the preservation application, the PG alleged that a scheme was devised by the accused to unlawfully sell off state fishing quotas through Fishcor. The PG alleged that, in order for the individuals and entities to unlawfully receive the payments for selling off the state fishing quotas, De Klerk was approached to allow DHC Inc’s trust account to be used as a conduit to receive and pay monies from the sale of the fishing quotas. The PG further alleged that De Klerk was also instructed to create a special purpose vehicle, by means of a private company, of which he would be the nominee shareholder and director on behalf of two of the persons accused in the Fishrot scandal. The company so created was Celax Investments Number One (Pty) Ltd (Celax Investments).
It is the Prosecutor General’s allegation that by means of this modus operandi, an amount of approximately N$81 million was paid to DHC Inc’s trust account and was, from that trust account, paid directly to Celax Investments and distributed to different individuals, companies, and entities. The N$6.5 million is the balance from the N$81 million, as alleged by the PG. The High Court on 2 December granted the preservation of property order.
The fugitive’s lawyers’ appeal attempt to have the preservation order granted in December 2022, dismissed on a technical basis, also failed in the Supreme Court in September 2024.
High Court Judge Ueitele, in the final forfeiture order, said that any person whose interest is affected by the forfeiture order may, within 30 days after the notice of the making of the forfeiture is published in the Gazette, apply for an order excluding his or her interest in the property concerned, and that the matter has been finalized and removed from the roll.