Namibia: Fishrot’s ‘Fitty’ to Get Bail Decision in December

One of the men charged in the Fishrot fraud, corruption and racketeering case, Tamson ‘Fitty’ Hatuikulipi, is due to hear on 16 December if his latest attempt to be granted bail has been successful.

Judge David Munsu postponed the delivery of his judgement on a bail application by Hatuikulipi to this date after hearing oral arguments in the Windhoek High Court on Friday.

Hatuikulipi (43) has been held in custody for five years, after being arrested on 27 November 2019 in connection with allegations that he and other accused had been involved in an illegal scheme to secure Namibian fishing quotas that were supposed to be allocated for ‘governmental objectives’.

Hatuikulipi and his father-in-law, former minister of fisheries and marine resources Bernhard Esau, who is also an accused in the Fishrot case, first applied to be granted bail in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in July 2020. That application was not successful.

Munsu heard a second bail application by Hatuikulipi in the High Court from July 2022. That application was dismissed in December 2022.

Hatuikulipi’s current defence lawyer, Mbanga Siyomunji, argued on Friday that Hatuikulipi has shown he is a good candidate to be granted bail.

He also argued that Hatuikulipi has shown he was a businessman and consultant hired by the Icelandic fishing company group Samherji to link it up with Namibian fishing rights holders so that it could buy quotas.

There was nothing untoward with payments made to Hatuikulipi for the work he said he did for Samherji, Siyomunji argued.

Deputy prosecutor general Hesekiel Iipinge argued that Hatuikulipi did not present new facts to the court that changed the basis on which he was previously denied bail.

Iipinge also argued that the court has previously found there is evidence implicating Hatuikulipi in connection with the charges he is facing.

During his bail hearing before Munsu, Hatuikulipi failed to address the most pertinent issues around his alleged involvement with the company Namgomar Pesca, to which ‘governmental objectives’ fishing quotas were allocated and which sold those quotas to companies in the Samherji group, Iipinge argued as well.

The bail hearing started in May this year.

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