U.S. Slaps Sanctions On Former Namibia Ministers Accused of Graft

The United States of America has banned former fisheries minister Bernard Esau and ex-justice minister Sacky Shanghala from entering the country because of allegations of corruption. This was announced by U.S. state department spokesperson Ned Price in a media statement issued on June 15. In a statement, Price said the two former ministers "were involved in corrupt acts that undermined rule of law and the Namibian public's faith in their government's democratic institutions".

Esau and Shanghala are charged with having been involved in a scheme in which Icelandic companies allegedly paid them at least N$103 million (U.S.$6,9 million) to get access to Namibian fishing quotas.

In November 2019, WikiLeaks began publishing what it called the Fishrot Files, a collection of thousands of documents and email communications by employees of one of Iceland's largest fish industry companies, Samherji, that indicated that the company had paid hundreds of millions to high ranking politicians and officials in Namibia, to acquire the country's coveted fishing quotas.

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