Faroese shipping firm tried to buy Namibia quotas

In 2012, Hósvík-based shipping firm Thor offered more than DKK 36 million for a 30,000-tonne horse mackerel quota off the shores of Namibia.

The news comes after leaked documents revealed that Icelandic shipping firm Samherji, which owns a quarter share in Faroese shipping firm Framherji, has been bribing Namibian officials for the last ten years in return for fishing quotas.

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One of the documents published by Wikileaks now also reveals a draft deal for 2012 between Thor and a Peruvian shipping firm and two Namibian men involving 30,000 tonnes of horse mackerel in Namibian waters.

According to Namibian newspaper Namib Times, one of the two Namibian men has been charged with 76 counts of forgery in connection with property sales in Namibia.

Deal fell through

Thor CEO Hans Andrias Kelduberg says his company placed a bid on the quotas in 2012, but the deal did not materialise.

One of the reasons, he says, is that it became clear that the owners of the quotas were unreliable.

The plot thickens

This is the second leaked document related to the Samherji bribery scandal that raises questions in the Faroes. The first involved shipping firm Framherji and its authority distribution.

According to lawyer Brandur Ellingsgaard, this document indicates that the Icelandic firm may have veto power in Framherji.

This is in breach of the law on marine resources, which states that foreign ownership of a Faroese shipping company must not exceed one third and that the foreign minority owner’s authority must correspond with the level of ownership.

No Faroese investigation planned

In the wake of the Samherji bribery scandal, authorities in Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Namibia have initiated efforts to investigate their respective fishery industries.

But Faroese fisheries minister Jacob Vestergaard says that no such investigations are planned in the Faroes.

Translated by prosa.fo