Angola opens case against ex-minister

Angolan authorities have opened a criminal case against a former fishing minister for alleged involvement in a bribery scandal with Iceland's biggest fishing company that has seen six arrests in neighbouring Namibia, state media reported.State-owned Jornal de Angola said authorities had frozen the assets of ex-minister of fisheries Victoria de Barros Neto and opened a case against her, her husband and four children."If there are signs of criminal acts, in due course we will provide information about the judicial process," state deputy prosecutor Álvaro da Silva João was quoted as saying.According to the Angolan news agency Angop, teams from Angola and Namibia are working together to investigate the involvement of the current MPLA deputy in a scheme of corruption, tax fraud and money laundering.“Angop has learnt that it all starts with an agreement signed between the governments of Namibia and Angola, which outlined the establishment of fishing quotas involving two Namibian companies: Namgomar Namibian (private) and the state-owned National Fishcor Corporation of Namibia (Fishcor), and an Angolan firm, Nandomar Pescas Angola,” the agency reported.Namibian linkTwo former Namibian ministers and four others implicated in Namibia's largest corruption scandal are awaiting trial. They are accused of conspiring with Iceland's biggest fishing company Samherji to receive payments worth millions of US dollars in exchange for fishing quotas.The scheme, which was exposed by Wikileaks, began in 2014 and included relatives of the ministers and officials from Angola, according to documents it posted online. It used a bilateral deal between the two neighbouring nations in southwest Africa to enable Samherji to get quotas of tens of thousands of tonnes a year of horse mackerel, according to the documents.Former justice minister Sacky Shanghala and fisheries minister Bernhard Esau, along with two former employees of South Africa's Investec, are among those awaiting trial in Namibia.Norwegian police are meanwhile investigating DNB, the country's largest bank, after it too was named.Samherji has denied wrongdoing, as have Esau and Shanghala. DNB said it was cooperating with the investigation.Investec said last month that two former employees on trial had not used their Investec positions to facilitate the alleged scheme in any way. – Nampa/Reuters and Angop

Angola opens case against ex-minister

Kommentaar

Republikein 2025-12-17

Meld asseblief aan om kommentaar te lewer

Angola opens case against ex-minister

Kommentaar

Republikein 2025-12-17

Meld asseblief aan om kommentaar te lewer

Intekening vereis om toegang tot inhoud te kry. ×

MELD AAN

Advertensie

Intekening vereis om toegang tot inhoud te kry.