N$4
namib times
SERVING THE COASTAL COMMUNITY SINCE 1958 NO 6969 FRIDAY 17 JUNE 2022 Tel: +264 64 - 205854 / +264 64 - 461866 /Fax: +264 64 - 204813 / 064 - 461824 / Website: www.namibtimes.net
Namibians: biggest losers in Fishing? Many in Namibia may not be aware but Grupo Nuevo Pescanova in Spain, formally known as Pescanova SA, which is the mother company of Novanam (Pty) Ltd here in Namibia once found themselves at the centre of the largest non-real estate business bankruptcy in the history of Spain at the hands of Manuel Fernández de Sousa in 2014. Manuel Fernández de Sousa, the former president and CEO of Pescanova SA, along with 11 members of the company's then leadership, stood trial and was found guilty of crimes including falsification of company accounts and money laundering. The carrying out of irregular practices to obtain bank financing led to several Spanish banks being defrauded in the process, namely Caixabank, Banco de Sabadell, Banco Popular, Abanca, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Bankia and UBI Banca. These irregularities continued with further manipulation of annual accounts to reflect positive results which did not correspond with the true financial situation of Pescanova SA. The purpose of this was to attract even more investors to the company. By doing so they managed to conceal a supposed hidden debt of €3.6 billion (N$56,2 billion). Due to the damning evidence against him, Fernández de Sousa was sentenced to an 8-year prison sentence in 2020, seven of his co-accused were acquitted with the remaining four receiving sentences ranging from six months to three and a half years. Subsequent to this judgement, the banks who were defrauded Continues on page 2
inside Deprived nursing students need financial help
Page 3
United States looking to foster relationships with Namibia
Revitalise the ocean and everything it sustains Rudi Bowe
The Municipality of Walvis Bay in collaboration with the ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources commemorated the 14th annual World Ocean Day celebrated globally on 8 June, under the theme 'Revitalisation: Collective Action for the Ocean' at Walvis Bay. The aim of this year's celebrations is to shed light on communities and generate ideas, and solutions working together to protect and revitalise the ocean and everything it sustains. The importance of the ocean to the world and Namibia in particular cannot be overemphasised. Maritime transportation accounts for 85% of all our domestic trade, while marine diamonds are the largest commodity and the biggest contributor to our GDP. Namibia's thriving fisheries sector provides employment and economic prosperity to thousands of Namibians, and food security. We have a collective responsibility to protect and restore the health of our ocean and build a sustainable ocean economy today, while mitigating and building resilience for future crises. The commemoration in Walvis Bay, were officially opened by a speech delivered by Namibian Vice President Dr. Nangolo Mbumba, where he reiterated that the ocean was an important asset to Namibia, offering more than fish and that Namibia joined 13 other ocean based countries to declare 100% protection of the ocean. Dr Mbumba said, “Our call for action recognises that we have a collective responsibility to protect and restore the health of our ocean and build a sustainable ocean economy that can provide food, empower coastal communities, power our cities, transport people and goods as well as provide innovative solutions to global challenges.” Mbumba said that urgent action is required because oceans are polluted, and continue to be at risk of pollution, particularly from plastics and oil. "Additionally, overfishing in particular illegal, unreported and unregulated
Page 5
Namport hosts its first ever Environmental Week
Page 6
Sports News
Continues on page 2 Page16
2 NAMIB TIMES
17 JUNE 2022
Namibians: biggest losers in Fishing? Continued from page 1
Road Upgrades And Maintenance Underway In Walvis Bay The Roads and Building Control Division continue with road maintenance and upgrades in Walvis Bay. Namibia Construction recently completed Upgrades to the intersection at Hidipo Hamutenya Drive & Circumferential Road Intersection by upgrading with 80 mm interlocked concrete pavers. The team is currently working on the intersection of Sam Nujoma Avenue and Hanna Mupetami Drive (at Shell Express and Cymot) to complete a similar upgrade. According to the Engineer in the Roads Engineering Division, Frans Nghifiku, the intersection will undergo upgrades in sections so as not to interfere with the traffic flow for too long. Upgrading of Gravel Roads Upgrading of the following gravel roads to a surfaced standard was completed in May 2022 and all roads we provided with sidewalks for the safety of pedestrians: · Fiskaal Street · Johanna Benson Street · Kingklip Street ·Khomas Hochland Street The recently completed project also included the light rehabilitation of a section of Brandberg Street, which had dilapidated over time. Upgrading of Intersections The intersection at Hidipo Hamutenya Drive and Circumferential Road was recently upgraded with 80 mm interlocks. The Contractor started this week with similar works at the intersection of Sam Nujoma Avenue and Hanna Mupetami Road (at Shell Express and Cymot). The works will be executed in sections to limit disruptions to the flow of traffic. Resealing of Streets The current resealing project commence in April 2022 and will be completed in July 2022. A number of streets in the areas of Fairways, Lagoon, CBD and Narraville were resealed recently, with more streets in Kuisebmond and Narraville to be resealed during the next 4 weeks. Routine Road Maintenance We have a huge backlog of potholes and 2 Contractors are currently busy attending to these, with their contracts ending in August 2022. The option of increasing the number of Contractors for this type of work with the new contract is being considered to ensure good progress is made in addressing the backlog. Rehabilitation of Existing Surfaced Roads Designs for the rehabilitation of Union Street are at an advance stage and we anticipate having a Contractor on site before the end of this calendar year. Designs for the rehabilitation of more roads will be completed during the next 6-8 months Regular notices will be shared to inform motorists works along specific streets and closed intersections which may affect traffic movements. Road users are advised to proceed with caution and patience along the affected areas. The Municipality of Walvis Bay apologises for any inconvenience that the road
works may cause.
during this process gained more than 90% of the shareholding within Pescanova SA which then became Grupo Nuevo Pescanova, giving them full control of this fishing national. Proven by the court in Spain, these fraudulent actions by Fernández de Sousa could have, according to an expert in the fishing industry, overflowed into Namibia through Novanam. Novanam is said to be managed directly by its mother company, Grupo Nuevo Pescanova, as from the time of Fernández de Sousa. Although Novanam may not like to publicly acknowledge this due to his disgraced reputation, Fernández de Sousa together with his reputed righthand man in Namibia, Angel Tordesillas, were both the founding directors of Novanam as well as Skeleton Coast Trawling (Pty) Ltd, the operating entity of Grupo Nuevo Pescanova in Namibia. Thus, it is believed that he effectively managed Novanam from his offices in Vigo, Spain, with Angel Tordesillas at the helm of Novanam in Namibia ensuring the execution of all orders. According to a credible source further evidence to Spain's direct involvement is that Novanam's entire computerized accounting system is said to be linked with Grupo Nuevo Pescanova and is accessible in Spain. In addition to this, all budgets are reportedly prepared and approved in Spain, as well as all Spanish crews working in Namibia for Novanam are directly paid in Spain by the mother company, Grupo Nuevo Pescanova. Therefore, in legal terms it is of utmost importance for the corporate veil to be lifted in regard to how Fernández de Sousa's actions and management style may have impacted the Namibian fishing industry. According to sources, Fernández de Sousa's modus operandi was straight forward and simple. Novanam only sold its products directly to its mother company and its affiliates in Europe at such low prices that Novanam only recorded losses in Namibia. On the face of it, the profits of the Namibian operation have reflected in the books of the mother company which in turn presented an outwardly false picture of the financial position of Pescanova SA. To all appearances, this smart accounting by Fernández de Sousa and his team was one of the primary methods of defrauding banks and foreign investors. In further strengthening their seemingly false financial situation in Spain, Pescanova SA also subsidized Novanam's alleged false losses in Namibia through loan accounts. These actions ostensibly resulted in Novanam allegedly never paying taxes in Namibia as far back as 2003. It appears that Novanam will infact never pay
taxes in Namibia as an extract of their financial statements of 2016 from Rand Merchant Bank, indicated that Novanam has an accumulated loss of ±N$2.4 billion. This model of operation in the Namibian fishing industry is a near blueprint of what Samherji, the Icelandic fishing giant, tried to attain. However, much to their dismay, they were exposed by their own front man before they could capitalize on their scheme known as Fishrot. Through patterns observed by sources over the years it has become clear that the prerequisite to successfully execute exploitation of the natural resources in Africa include identification and capturing of key persons who become instrumental in fulfilling commands of foreign investors. Once identified, a web of lies and deceit is set through wining, dining, corporate gifts and money to a much wider group of influential people than the actual targeted group. The above actions are set into motion years before the actual business plan is realized. By the time of implementation, the targeted group realize that they have been tricked and find themselves in too deep to refuse any of the demands made to them. Due to this foolproof smokescreen of deceit, the current Fishrot accused are being portrayed in Namibia as corrupt and greedy Africans whereas they are merely the victims of the schemes refined by so-called foreign investors. The monies and gifts received by Namibians are peanuts in comparison to what these foreigners suck out of the country. The host is sucked dry by foreigners who leave its victims in Namibia to suffer the full brunch of their illegal and fraudulent scheme whilst the parasite moves onto other hosts with the same pattern of colonial behaviour. In the opinion of experts in the fishing industry, the illegal exploitation can only be eradicated if the real culprits are exposed and brought to book. In order to achieve this, the government will have to give amnesty and anonymity to those Namibians who has found themselves trapped in this vicious cycle in exchange for assistance in tracing moneys lost to foreign countries. By doing this, focus can be put on bringin to justice the true culprits in order to wipe out the corruption within the industry carrying our economy. Namib Times contacted the offices of Miguel Tordesillas, the Managing Director of Novanam, and posed a number of questions regarding the information uncovered, although by the time of going to print no response was received.
Revitalise the ocean fishing (IUU) are major causes of loss of biodiversity.” Mbumba believes that the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources will be able to double down on efforts to secure the safety of Namibia's fishing and marine resources through the use of modern and technologically advanced systems and strategies to ensure zero illegal fishing rate in Namibian waters. The head of the county called on the fisheries ministry to strengthen scientific fisheries research, control, monitoring and surveillance of the marine ecosystem for the management of fisheries resources, and to conduct environmental impact assessment of the ocean. “We must remember that every fish or marine resource that is stolen from the Namibian sea, means the loss of a job or income or business opportunity for countless of Namibians. We must endeavour to close down on all possible avenues for illegal fishing in Namibian waters as a matter of utmost importance”Mbumba said. He called on the line ministry and stakeholders to strengthen scientific fisheries research, control, monitoring and surveillance of the marine ecosystem for the management of fisheries resources. “These actions are to ensure ocean ecosystem resilience. Capacity development is key and institutions should explore innovative ocean-based financing mechanisms, blue bonds, and carbon trading to support research and other critical aspects of the ocean.”
Continued from page 1
According to Mbumba, Namibia's Hake Fishery is certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, a globally recognised, science based standard for sustainable fishing and seafood traceability. The vice president said that Namibia is in the process of ensuring that other fisheries products are certified as well. “We are also at an advanced stage with the development of Namibia's Sustainable Blue Economy Policy which will further strengthen linkages of the ocean sectors towards sustainable development.” Mbumba emphasised that Namibia's economic future and the livelihoods of many of its people are highly dependent on the state of our ocean and urged Namibians to pull together to ensure the sustainability of the ocean and its resources. Speaking at the same occasion, the governor of the Erongo region Neville Andre, stressed that actions need to be intensified to stop illegal fishing from taking place along the Namibian coastline. Andre said, “We need to put up drastic actions to stop illegal fishing taking place along our coastline. Not only is it illegal but it will cause the rapid extinction of the fish.” The governor further says the ocean is about much more than just the fisheries sector, and that it contributes significantly to Namibia's GDP. But, more importantly, people rely on the ocean for food livelihood, transport, and trade.