Shipping firm given Namibia quotas through bribery

Icelandic shipping firm Samherji has been spending tens of millions in Danish kroner (DKK) on pay-offs to Namibian officials over the past ten years.

In return, the company has been given access to the African country’s valuable horse mackerel quotas, which have proved highly profitable for the Icelandic company, which has transferred revenues to tax havens.

These revelations have been uncovered by national Icelandic broadcaster RÚV, Al Jazeera and Icelandic newspaper Stundin.

Information though Wikileaks 

After studying thousands of documents leaked through Wikileaks, the journalists found that the company has been exposing corrupt schemes in Namibia to gain access to rich fishing grounds off the African country’s shores.

A key person mentioned in these leaked documents is former Samherji employee-turned-whistleblower Johannes Stefansson.

”This is organised crime,” he told RÚV. “Samherji is raking in money from Namibia’s resources and is spending it on investments in the US or Europe.”

He goes on to admit to having been part of this organised crime himself.

“I broke the law when I worked for Samherji. I was the man who secured quotas and forged links with many of the local officials by order from my managers at Samherji.”

Active in the Faroes

For almost ten years, Samherji has been operating three factory trawlers which have been fishing horse mackerel off the coast of Namibia.

The company is also an active part of the Faroese fishery industry, owning a quarter of the shares in one of the largest shipping companies in the Faroes, Framherji, whose ships have been allocated almost a third of all Faroese fishing quotas in the Barents Sea.

Translated by prosa.fo