Fraud or economic terrorism?
A document signed on 11 September 2012, Fishrot investigators allege, was the prelude to a scandal of which the magnitude is yet to be fully determined.
The date is significant, as it coincided with the commemoration of the ghastly terrorist attack on American soil on 11 September 2001.
And as Anti-Corruption Commission investigator Willem Olivier painted the picture this week of how exactly the Fishrot scandal brought hardship and pain upon the Namibian nation, it was inevitable that some parallels could be drawn between the two events.
If it is indeed proven that the Fishrot accused are guilty of their crimes (obviously they are innocent until proven guilty), there is a strong case to be made for economic terrorism, and even treason.
According to Olivier, on 11 September 2012, Shanghala, then Law Reform and Development Commission chair, wrote a letter to himself, on behalf of then fisheries minister Bernhardt Esau, titled “Urgent Regulatory Reform: Marine Resources Act - 2000”.
Esau then dutifully signed the letter on the same day.
This was effectively the prelude to Fishrot, as the amendment to the Act gave Esau extensive powers to dish out fishing quotas.
Today, fishing families and ordinary Namibians still bear the brunt and others have even committed suicide.
If Olivier is to be believed, the document will live on in infamy in Namibian history, just as 9/11 will forever echo in the minds of Americans across the world.
The date is significant, as it coincided with the commemoration of the ghastly terrorist attack on American soil on 11 September 2001.
And as Anti-Corruption Commission investigator Willem Olivier painted the picture this week of how exactly the Fishrot scandal brought hardship and pain upon the Namibian nation, it was inevitable that some parallels could be drawn between the two events.
If it is indeed proven that the Fishrot accused are guilty of their crimes (obviously they are innocent until proven guilty), there is a strong case to be made for economic terrorism, and even treason.
According to Olivier, on 11 September 2012, Shanghala, then Law Reform and Development Commission chair, wrote a letter to himself, on behalf of then fisheries minister Bernhardt Esau, titled “Urgent Regulatory Reform: Marine Resources Act - 2000”.
Esau then dutifully signed the letter on the same day.
This was effectively the prelude to Fishrot, as the amendment to the Act gave Esau extensive powers to dish out fishing quotas.
Today, fishing families and ordinary Namibians still bear the brunt and others have even committed suicide.
If Olivier is to be believed, the document will live on in infamy in Namibian history, just as 9/11 will forever echo in the minds of Americans across the world.
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Namibian Sun
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