Former Fisheries and Marine Resources Minister Bernard Esau has denied allocating quotas to Namgomar Pesca Limitada, an Angolan company at the centre of the Fishrot fishing corruption saga.
Esau in his testimony at his formal bail application in the Windhoek High Court on Wednesday told Judge David Mungunda he was not in charge of allocating fishing quotas, saying the agreement to nominate Namgomar Pesca as the Angolan entity receiving the quotas came from the office his then Permanent Secretary, Ulitala Hiveluah.
Esau also denied having a hand in the Angola-Namibia bilateral fishing agreement, saying that it merely came to his office as a recommendation and he was only briefed by the Permanent Secretary(PS) after the agreement was already decided on.
“The Memorandum of Understanding was shared by the then PS with her counterpart in Angola and both parties came to an agreement in terms of objectives, scope, operations. I was only briefed by the PS that we have now come to an agreement. I am subjected to briefings by those who are responsible. They evaluate the allocation of quotas. I don’t have that authority as the minister. In fact, I asked my colleagues how quotas are allocated when I was in office,” Esau said.
He reiterated that the administration in the fisheries ministry and a special internal committee was solely responsible for the allocation of the quotas, while he as minister was to approve the allocation as recommended.
“Namgomar was recommended to me as the entity. It came from the PS, I don’t have the capacity as minister to do due diligence for entities. They even prepared letters for my signature and in terms of protocol, I had to send to my counterpart,” Esau testified.
Esau was arrested in November 2019 alongside former Justice Minister Sakeus Shanghala, former Fishcor Chief Executive Officer Mike Nghipunya, former Investec Asset Management Managing Director James Hatuikulipi, his cousin Tamson Hatuikulipi and Pius Mwatelulo, Otneel Shuudifonya, Ricardo Gustavo and Phillipus Mwapopi.
They face charges ranging from fraud and money laundering to racketeering and theft.
Esau is represented by Florian Beukes and State Advocate Ed Marondedze represents the State.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency