The Fishrot Files

The Fishrot Files were published by me on 12 November 2019 with the Icelandic broadcaster RÚV's investigative programme Kveikur, the Icelandic newspaper Stundin, The Namibian and Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit. The first release comprised more than 30,000 documents — emails, internal reports, spreadsheets, presentations and photographs — dated 2010 to 2016, the period in which Samherji, one of Iceland's largest fishing companies, established its operations in Namibia.

We and our partners said the documents showed Samherji making payments to senior Namibian politicians and officials to secure access to fishing quotas, and moving money through companies in Cyprus, Mauritius and Dubai. Al Jazeera reported that from 2012 Samherji made payments totalling more than $10m to the fisheries minister, Bernhard Esau, and to companies linked to the justice minister, Sacky Shanghala, Esau's son-in-law Tamson Hatuikulipi and James Hatuikulipi, chairman of the state fishing company Fishcor. A second release on 26 November 2019 added internal records from Norway's DNB bank concerning accounts used by Samherji-linked companies.

Esau and Shanghala resigned on 13 November 2019, the day after publication; the Namibian presidency said they stepped down following media reports alleging corruption. Samherji's chief executive, Þorsteinn Már Baldvinsson, stepped aside pending an investigation. Esau was arrested on 23 November 2019 and warrants were issued for Shanghala and the two Hatuikulipis, who denied the allegations (Al Jazeera).

Unusually for one of our publications, the source was named: the documents were provided by Jóhannes Stefánsson, a former managing director of Samherji's Namibian operations, who came forward as a whistleblower and was cooperating with Namibian anti-corruption investigators.

Samherji's management said it was 'deeply shocked that Johannes Stefansson not only admits being involved in illegal activities, he is now also making allegations against colleagues' (Al Jazeera). According to our second-release statement, investigations were opened by authorities in Namibia, Iceland and Norway. Norway's public broadcaster NRK joined the partners for the second release.