Namibian prosecutor general secures N$75.3 million asset freeze against Fishrot fugitive Marén de Klerk
via The Namibian4 min read
Acting prosecutor general Martha Imalwa has obtained a Prevention of Organised Crime Act property restraint order for assets valued at up to N$75.3 million belonging to fugitive lawyer Marén de Klerk. The order, granted by acting judge James Devittie in the Windhoek High Court on July 10, also targets assets worth up to N$2.3 million from Moyo Estates. De Klerk, who left Namibia in January 2020 and is believed to be in South Africa, is a fugitive from justice in Namibia, with an extradition request sent to South Africa in May. He was questioned by the Anti-Corruption Commission regarding the Fishrot fraud, corruption, and racketeering case, which involves the alleged illegal allocation of Namibian fishing quotas. Imalwa states there are reasonable grounds to believe De Klerk, his company Celax Investments Number One, and other accused in the Fishrot case committed crimes including racketeering, fraud, corruption, and money laundering. These alleged activities involved a scheme to benefit from fishing quotas allocated by former minister of fisheries and marine resources Bernhard Esau. The scheme allegedly diverted N$81.88 million from fishing quota proceeds of the National Fishing Corporation of Namibia Fishcor to an account of De Klerk's former law firm, De Klerk, Horn and Coetzee Incorporated DHC. A forensic analysis by Deloitte indicated that 238,000 tonnes of horse mackerel quotas allocated to Fishcor were sold to the Icelandic fishing company group Samherji, which alleged
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This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by The Namibian.
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