BUSINESSWOMAN-turned-whistleblower Sharon Neumbo says one of the Fishrot accused in the past stood in front of the ocean, saying: “Aah, this is our real estate.”
She revealed this at a meeting of the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Senegal this week.
Neumbo was close to the masterminds of the Fishrot corruption scandal.
She recalled that some of the accused had collections of Mercedes-Benz vehicles that kept growing, but couldn’t explain where the money for these was coming from.
“Coming from a small country like Namibia, the money stays with those who are willing to keep quiet,” she said at the event.
Neumbo’s company is among a Namibian group of fishing quota beneficiaries – Sinco Fishing, Epango Fishing and Yukor – which teamed up to form a consortium which partnered with the Icelandic Samherji.
Together with Samherji, they formed a company called Arcticnam in 2013.
Neumbo revealed that former minister of fisheries and marine resources Bernhard Esau on the instruction of the president pressured her to partner with Samherji.
Samherji is accused of being one of the companies that helped siphon more than N$2,5 billion from the Namibian fishing sector.
“There was backing from the politicians. I was explicitly told by the [fisheries] minister that if I partnered with South Africans [instead of Samherji], there would be repercussions.”
In 2016, Neumbo said she started asking questions as millions passed through her company’s bank accounts without her having signed any documents for this.
Neumbo said she was initially offered N$10 million to keep quiet, which was to be delivered in Dubai.
Her refusal came at a cost, she said.
In 2019, she was jailed on accusations that she committed fraud by dubiously borrowing N$230 000 from the company.
Prior to her arrest, Neumbo, as chairperson of the board of directors of Sinco Fishing via her company Cassidra Fishing, filed a complaint with the police.
She asked them to investigate N$60 million she says was illegally moved from Arcticnam’s bank accounts.
The arresting officer then allegedly declined to charge her immediately. She spent time in police cells, and was released on N$5 000 bail three days later, she said.
The offer to keep quiet increased to N$40 million two months later, according to Neumbo.
She said she knew Samherji was going to leave Namibia at the end of 2019, and that she needed to make sure the locals were protected.
” . . . I didn’t know I was a whistleblower. I just thought I was fighting Samherji for the rights of Namibians,” she said.
Neumbo said her suspicions started when she was offered bribes.
When she refused, she was directly threatened, she said.
“The harassment continues. They either expose affidavits, come up with interesting conclusions on my drug habits and rehabilitation, but those are aimed at discrediting me,” she said.
“I was told I would suffer and they would make it difficult for me to operate in the country,” she said.
Neumbo said she was told the only people who would emerge damaged would be her and Jóhannes Stefánsson.
“They said particularly me, because I am a resident of Namibia. They executed it by having me arrested for petty crimes in 2019. It was at that point where I realised the importance of the information I held,” she said.
Neumbo said the threats peaked when she decided to speak out.
“Cars were parked outside. Society was distancing from me. The kindergarten of my daughter wrote me an email saying there was no longer space available for her. I felt extremely alone and vulnerable,” she said.
“I made the decision [to speak out] based on the fact that there was already a perception that I was working with the authorities. So whether I gave the information or not, it didn’t matter. I was just afraid it would fall in the hands of the wrong authorities.”