State gets top lawyer for Gustavo bail appeal

STAFF REPORTER WINDHOEKProsecutor-General Martha Imalwa has enlisted top South African legal mind Wim Trengove to argue against the bail granted to Fishrot-accused Ricardo Gustavo last year.In what is expected to be an explosive legal fight, Imalwa is seemingly going all out to prove that Judge Herman Oosthuizen’s decision to grant Gustavo bail was not well thought through and that the judge was misdirected and failed to consider and make an ‘appropriate’ ruling.Chief Justice Peter Shivute last week granted Trengove rights to travel to Namibia to take up the case.Some SA lawyers have over the years turned Namibia into their playground, travelling into the country willy-nilly to represent their Namibian clients in court and corporate matters.The honeymoon ended in 2019 when senior lawyers Mike Hellens and Dawie Joubert were detained by immigration officials minutes before court proceedings for working in the country without permits. The two had come to Namibia to represent some of the Fishrot accused.The Fishrot case, which is far reaching and has seen several senior government officials and businessmen arrested since 2019, alleges that the 10 accused persons colluded to execute a multimillion-dollar fishing scandal through which they were allegedly paid over N$150 million in bribes.Gustavo, a former Investec executive, was granted bail of N$800 000 in December. His co-accused are still in jail awaiting trial.Who is Trengove?Trengove is among SA’s most prominent lawyers, and has been involved in an array of cases involving three of that country’s presidents.According to online records, he has litigated many of SA’s most important human rights questions, including arguing for the successful abolition of the death penalty in SA, arguing against discrimination on the basis of HIV status, arguing for the protection of sex workers' labour rights, arguing for the restitution of land and mineral rights to groups dispossessed during apartheid, as well as arguing for the roll-out of anti-retroviral treatment for HIV patients.Trengove has also been active in high-profile political cases, representing former president Nelson Mandela, including in his divorce from Winnie Madikizela-Mandela; leading the prosecution of former president Jacob Zuma on charges of corruption, and representing President Cyril Ramaphosa in his dispute with the public protector.Appeal claimsIn her appeal notice filed last month, Imalwa said Oosthuizen was “swayed” by an offer to have Gustavo fitted with a GPS device while fully aware that no legal framework exists that provides for the use of GPS devices to track suspects.“There is no legal framework that provides for the use of such GPS monitoring devices in Namibia and, more so, the honourable judge did not even identify the type of GPS device or by who and how it should be determined that can be effectively put to use in Namibia.”According to her, Oosthuizen has a narrow view on public interest and failed to consider that the public interest is broader and needs a comprehensive interpretation.“Evidence tendered by the State showed that the respondent [Gustavo] was or is a member of a sophisticated syndicate whose criminal activities allegedly had a devastating and crippling negative effect on the economy and the state resources and that the public interest surrounding the now infamous Fishrot scandal is debatably intense,” she said.Imalwa insisted that Gustavo faces serious charges and has failed to answer to the documentary evidence provided by the State and that he will be convicted on some of the charges he had no defence to during the bail hearing.According to her, Gustavo has no work ties to Namibia and is likely to lose his assets, which are currently frozen and forfeited to the State, which makes him a flight risk.She also charged that Oosthuizen failed to consider that Gustavo frequently travels to Angola, where he still has family ties after his parents emigrated to Namibia.She also claimed that Gustavo did not show that he would be gainfully employed upon release on bail.

State gets top lawyer for Gustavo bail appeal

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-06

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State gets top lawyer for Gustavo bail appeal

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-06

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