He says all paper files from his office are already with ACC
he concedes that this is evidence of criminal offences to which he may also be implicated in.
He highlights that the PG and ACC can use him as a state witness and he is allowed to ask for indemnity for offences
He highlights that the indemnity is if he coorperates with the Authorities in the Criminal proceedings and asks to be indemified against prosecution for assisting in the case.
He mentions the offences/contraventions he might have commited and asks for pardon from prosecution
Fraud, Contravention of POCA, FIA, ACA and 5 other criminal offences he was involved in with the fishrot accused.
He says his name & images have appeared in the newspapers and it has affected him until hospitalization and now on strong medicine bc of weak emotions and psychology
He mentions that no warrant or indictment are yet against him and he asks for an opportunity to explain his side of the story and how it will help ACC.
Even as a lawyer he says he was duped into doing some peoples dirty work since 2016 as he will explain.
He mentions after Dec 2016 he felt proud that law office was being used by Swapo but in hindsight, he was being abused for personal interest of highly influential politicians and well connected people
He says he believes his involvment in the presidential re-election campaign ws blessed by President & SWAPO party.
He says he did not mastermined the corruption and bribery scheme but was used by them to pay money like other lawyers under their trust accounts (law firm accounts)
He adds that he is not a fugitive and has been in contact with the ACC investigator since Jan 2020 out of his own will he made a report to FIC and retained the 4mil left in his account but when he visited ACC without a lawyer present he felt like he was being accused too he says
He further says that while he was in the hospital (SA) an assassination/abduction attempt was made against him which made him fear for his life and his family and hide in SA
De Klerk says he complied with the authorities so far and he says he was but a pawn in a chess game of bribery and corruption that funded SWAPO's political campaing and benefited influential politicians.
He says he was stupid for doing this which now ruined his life.
He says he hope to make things right by cooperating with the authorities, he starts naming key players in the schemes
1 Sacky Shangala, James Hatuikulipi, a Mr Adrian Louw (a fishing buss-man in angola and Namibia) Mr Breed, financial advisor to Mr Louw and right hand man.
Bernard Esau former minister of fisheries, Mike Nghipunya who became CEO of a company created, President Hage Geingob who was referred to as The Boss when payments were made, Celeste Cotzee a lawyer in De Klerks firm
Dawie Moller, Hatuikulipis partner
and John Penderis who referred Shangala and Hatuikulipi to De Klerk in the first place after De Klerk was appointed Aron Mushimbas estate executor
In an about me, De Klek says he has two passports and gives his number, he says he is not missinghe says he is surely in SA as reported and can be contacted anytime. he says the affidavit is lacking bc his files and notes are in his office but he can add or supplement same still
De klerk says his partners from the lawfirm prohibited anyone from talking to him or access to his other files for which he has his lawyers working on.
He then gives a story of his life, he started working for GRN (prosecutor) after graduating from stellies until he was articled
In 95 he says his mom was diagnosed with arthritis and sclerosis and lost her job and he has been covering her expenses, he bought her 2 cars over 20 years and since 2019 he has been fully responsible for her livelihood which he says placed a burden on him
He eventually became admitted in 97 and remained with his principle and a conveyencer in 98, in 2001 he went to start his own firm in whk, he was appointed a notary public in 02 the firm grew exponentially and he bought his own premises in 05. he lists some social achievements
such as being schoolboard member, founding a trust for his sons school and also being elected chairperson of the Law society's ethics comittee twice which responded to the publics complaints against lawyers, he highlights how he sold his first law firm building and bought another
with another lawyer for 3.9 mil mortgage in 2013, in 2014 he was appointed to administer Aron Mushimbas estate which brought good income in the short term he says.
He says fortunes started changing in 2015 and being an all white law firm they were being marginalized
he says all the work was being given to Black lawyers and in the context of History SWAPO was determined to shift the work opportunities from whites to Black, he says this started limiting his growth rate. In 2016 GRN tabled the NEEEF bill which required 25% of Nam businesses
25% to be owned by racially disadvantaged people(blacks) he says this started bothering him and took away his sleep and he started getting physiotherapy as this was concerning him such that he even wanted to emigrate as he had become accustomed to a certian lifestyle
he says that he prepared filed an objection to the bill/law as he was afraid he would become financially embarrassed in the eyes of his partners and his family because of the new law to come.
CREATING SEAFLOWER PELAGIC
Low in brief says he met Mr Louw a wealthy business man and acted for him in several deals since 2014 and said he was impressed by De Klerk.
2016 Dec while in SA De Klerk got a spontaneous call from Shangala then AG who informed him he wanted to talk
about business shortly therafter Mr Louw followed up with Whatsapps to Deklerk that he wants to meet with Shangala and Hatuikulipi on a bus deal, he says he did not ask what it was about because the players were big a rich man and the attorney general so he went.
At the meeting the players told De Klerk he was Chosen to be part of a big opportunity. Shangala said De klek would make a lot of money, since Shangala was AG he would approve most decisions made and they had plans of changing the law on fisheries to create a joint venture
He was also told that Louw would largley get preferential treatment as he was a big player in the fishing industry following from the law change as already discussed with Esau. Shangala was very excited and even said LOUW IS THE REAL DEAL!!
De klerk says there was a secret deal
between esau, shangala and Louw as he received preferred treatment. louw was hesitant to invest money as he was uncertian of the volume of the business that would come from the deals if he set up land based plants.
it came to be that louws angolan company and Fishcor created a JV
This was called Seaflower pelagric which with the help of esau, shangala and public office power was in no competition for fish as the ground was already set in previous meetings between the players, Louw would get the fishing rights first and benefit from there.
he says louw explained that the opportunitis for de klerk were premised on the fact that most keyplayers were prominent SWAPO members (connections and networking), legal documents would be required, he would get shares in the JV and he would become a director of Seaflower
De Klerk says he did not ask how much money he stood to make as Louw told him the AMOUNTS WERE LIKE TELEPHONE NUMBERS.
seeing as he was not black and income making opps were contracting he says
he says he became the link "how to do" for the politicians and the business man
He was then instructed by Shangala and Louw to open a new company, draft certian agreements related to qoutas and a shareholders agreement. During this time De klerk says he noticed Shangala was abusing public office for his benefit Louw had come in an Aston Martin and told him
if he plays his cards right he can also buy the car of his dreams soon, louw impressed secrecy and urgency for the documents once more. De Klerk then explains the need to change the law inorder to benefit the players directly as follows,
he says that Fishcor was created to be allocated qoutas by the minister, fishcor would then give 3rd parties these qoutas who would fish and process on sea, the legal amendment created forced parties to freeze and process on land to allegedly create jobs for locals
the joint venture Seaflower was then set up to conform to the new changes relayed above.
the second legal issue was the NEEEF bill and its 25% black requirment, louw was concerned that he wouldnt be able to build the processing and freezing plant needed. be that as it may
what follows is a back and forth of De klerk setting up the companies and following instruction relating to how best to manouver the legal grounds to achieve their plan of exploiting the fishing industry for themselves.
shortly after the companies were set up, In 2017 De Klerk was appointed director of Louws angolan company as well as Seaflower on the namibian side, he provided input on the qouta agreement as well as the shareholders agreement he also said to comply with NEEEF
He bought a shelf company (celtax) from his comp secretary and they transfered 25% of louws angolan company to it.this company was in De Klerk's sole name and he says it ws used by Hatuikulipi and Mike to funnel most millions between the company and his law firms trust account.
Constructing Seaflower factory
In 2017 the players started building their freezing and processing plant, the president and Esau visited the sight in october evidenced by picutes sent by Louw to De klerk in the affidavit.
in 2019 the factory started operating and was visited again by pres of Zimbabwe, Pres of Namibia, Louw, Breed and others
He says he wasnt there but he got pictures from louw showing him how well thing were going
De klerk says even though he was a director for louws angolan company he never attended board meeting, he did however attend meetings for seaflower which was based in Namibia and of which he contributed minimally as he was not really versed in the fishing industry
He says the meetins were usually friendly however at one meeting on 9 september 2019 louw on one side and mike and hatuikulipi had a major difference regarding the qouta allocation from fishcor to seaflower, Louw had not allocated a qouta for 2018 and mike became defensive
the argument became so heated that Hatuikulipi stormed out. De klerk says Louw told him Mike and James had probably sold the qouta to a third party to raise funds for fishcor or for themselves. the next meeting that was held mike and james resigned because of the fishrot scandal
De klerk says he never made his own decisions but merely followed what Louw said as he was the one who appointed him and he acted as a gatekeeper of his interests. he says he was expected to always follow louw leads.
He emphasizes that he didnt even control Celax investment which also hadmembers from swapo boys clu but followed what Shangala and James told him. he was never paid a directors fee for sitting on any of the companies boards but only for all legal services
De klerk says he did not take issue as he was in league with SWAPO and felt it was a boost he much needed. overtime he admits he grew close to Louw and Breed who he did other legal work for still
in 2018 Louw bought a new property next to the processing and freezing plant they built, this was for an amount of about 90 million and louw asked for legal advise for De klerk which he gave
in that same year Louw allegedly secured funding for his initial investment but the new
investors wanted to know what celax's role was, De klerk explained that it represented the 25 percent needed by NEEEF to operate in Namibia.
he says he has no knowledge of the agreement but was sent pictures that the agreement was signed with two foriegn investors
in another transaction De Klerk says he was instructed by Louws head of Compliance chief to facilitate the purchase of two erfs one 373 and 374 from a certian Henning, De klerk says this might not be fishrot related but more Louw helping out Henning bc he thinks he was in debt
Fishrot Going Public
In Nov 19 De Klerk says he saw the aljazeera video firs and was shocked at the revelations. in Dec Louw called him & told him he was concerned of this and his connection in the whole issue so he asked would the agreements stand in law.
De Klerk says he then pointed he wanted to resign as director he was appointed to but Louw said he shouldnt bc it would mean he did sth wrong so he should wait for the next board meeting.
He says Louw was furious and instructed him to transfer 75% of Calex to back to him as he believed James and Sacky no longer deserved equity for what they did, he did this and reflected it on an invoice that Louw was angry about bc i had too much information and told De Klerk abt
Louw in Jan 2020 then told De Klerk to retransfer the shares back to himself and said that he would remove celax as a subsidiary of his angolan company used for the Joint Venture. He says he advised Louw to get Senior counsel 4 an opinion on implication in the saga which he did
They appointed Esi Schimming Chase who informed them that the business conducted was in no way tying them to the corruption or bribery allegations made specificaly the shareholder and subscription agreements made, he says they did not disclose everything to Counsel here mentioned
He also says Louw did not know he acted as the paymaster in Calex for James and Sacky the whole time. In Jan 20 De klerk resigned as directors of seaflower and the angolan company he says. He points out that they flew in Louw private jet to consult with advocate in Dec 2019
while flying back he revealed to louw that he was the paymaster for Calex and Louw told him to explore options of limiting his exposure to which he said he'd tell the company sec to expunge the share transfer done in Dec 2019
HOW CALEX WAS USED TO MAKE PAYMENTS
De Klerk sys he met th accountant John Penderis in 97, they started wrking together, Penderis would give de klerk clients; they became close ovr time, Penderis ws Aron Mushimbas frnd & hence y De Klerk was eventually made executor when he died
Mushimba and Penderis had businesses together, Mushimba was influential and rich, he was also Sacky's mentor. Mushimba and Penderis then told Sacky to approach De klerk in 2011, this was for drafting a will and a starting a trust to the same which he did,
They were impressed
Penderis told him this and De Klerk became excited to do more work for Sacky. When Mushimba died, he had over 400mil net worth and De klerk was a trustee of the estate with Penderis, they also added sacky as beneficiaries didnt like that whites were handling everything
In that relationship he says he and Sacky grew respect for one another as they did good work together with regard to the Mushimba estate in 2017. following the first meeting Sacky asked penderis which attorney to approach and Penderis recommended De Klerk. they scheduled anthr 1
they met a few days later in De Klerks offices sacky and james met him. here james told him he is the CEO of investec bank, they also told him that they were instructed by the President of Nam to come up with ways to manage funds contributed to the party & GRN by their supporters
They told him bc of elections coming the amounts would increase dramatically and already payments were being made but in a chaotic structure, James exhibited that when he said boss he referred to the President at this point. He says some payment were for SWAPO others for Fishcor
he says he smelled something wrong with payments to GRN through Fishcor but said nothing about it. he says Sacky mentioned that the BOSS was concerned as there was no way to link the payments to ultimate beneficiary and the Boss had explicity tasked James & him 2 find a solution
James was allegedly made the Boss's economic advisor and he came up with the name Ndilimani to funnel the money through but it was refused by Bipa as other companies had this name, they eventually settled for the name SIFA
Sacky informed De Klerk that the Boss had agreed to the James recommendation of managing the funds as follows:
money already received would be sent to lawyers trust accounts until Ndilimani/Sifa was established, De Klerk says he cannot recall the names of these other lawyers
they further said new money would be paid to the SIFA structure and told him that they discussed his expertise and experience with the Boss so they recommended him to the Boss and he was in agreement so that he could set up the Ndilimani/SIFA structure
De Klerk says together with Sacky and James they talked about what structure would work over time, since they had the blessing of the Boss. James recommended a trust that would have subsidiary holdings for specific purposes which money was going to be used.
De Klerk says he was promised 2.5% of the totat income in the structure and he was happy as this was to be a big amount with past dealings in retrospect. He says his mind raced about how much money he was standing to make working for the Players.
He says he only thought they used him to keep things legal and he was flattered to be working for the boss. He was broadening horizons and felt good that he was building important connections and doing work for important people .
De Klerk says he is ashamed as he he allowed himself to be played esp by Shangala who he couldnt help but notice always had expensive suits and different expensive watches in all their meetings.
He says he opined to the players that a mandate be written on how money must be always deposited in lawyers accounts and the specific use of the money and the charges for the lawyers on keeping the amounts. they told him they would ask the boss
he gave them a standard written mandate for clientS who usually invest thier money in lawyers trust accounts they told him they would revert with changes to the document at the Boss's instruction. He says during this time he was blinded by the fees he was going to make.
It was only later that he realized that he was being used as a puppet, but he never questioned for fear of having the deals taken away from him and fear of severing relationship with the influential Players.
De klerk says he never directly worked with Esau apart from one time in 2017 where Sacky brought him to draft a will and trust that were never completed as Esau did not revert. later he then opened a cc for Esau at James's instructions and paid a deposit for a property of Esau 2.
in 2018 De Klerk says James instructed him to conveyance a property and register a trust for his cousing Tamson, he says that even with his new found business associates he still had debts and was constantly under stress so he sold some of his law firms equity to other lawyers.
as the structre SAFI/Ndilimani was being set up in the interm of 2017 De klerk was instructed to use CALEX as the conduit for incoming and outgoing money.
He says Calex account started receiving large sums of money which could as well be stolen but he did not pay mind to FIA/C
He says he merely acted at James and Sacky's instructions without following the law. It is then in June 2017 that he started receiveng money, first was a 200k which sacky told him to pay out to peole that provided Services to swapo based on invoices. James also started asking him
to make payments on his behalf, in august 17 14mil was paid into his trust account and he was informed to take 234k for his services. shortly therafter an email came from Sacky saying SWAPO'S SG had instructed them to set up a trust account for the NDILIMANI CULTURAL GROUP
This was to contrl all music works, in addition they also instructed him to open a Ndilimani holdings pty under the trust & undr tht Ndilimani Cultural troup pty , the latter would employ and pay all 15 membrs salaries. these entities had Sacky &/or james as directors all through
De Klerk informed Sacky he was willing to assist and Sacky told him to wait while he ironed out issues with the Boss, he also asked abt payment and Sacky said he musnt worry, in the mw he can charge from the money he holds in trust. He again received 3mill and invoices to pay
these included over 100k to istore and some SWAPO members such as Veikko Nekundi and efraim nekongo 60k and 20k each amongst he paid almost 2,6mill from that money out.
He also received instructions from james to pay 2mil from Calex to a certian account for the Boss. Sacky also told him to pay about 120k for Ndilimani group who were performing in Katima. De klerk says he did all this and was also registered the Ndilimani trust and sent to them
He says when he would ask for commentry they would tell him to wait as the Boss was still considering, although he didnt receive instruction he continued to be instructed to pay monies to different entities/people by james and sacky till late 2018, these instructions
came through WA, email, in their meetings or by telephone always he says. He admits he did not investigate the sources where the money was being paid to and sometimes he got invoices, other times he did not but he always complied. he says smtms he was paid some not for the work
He says the fees were not structred nor was there a context how the amounts were paid, in aggregate he estimates he was paid about 4 mil from when he was director up to 2018. he says he became suspicious in 2017 pertaining to large amounts he paid to 3rd parties and occasionally
he would ask james if it was okay and James said all was well everytime. in 2017 he says he flagged a certian MH properties which kept receiving monies from him at James and sacky's instructions & became suspicious that he was being used as a puppet but even so he never asked
early 2019 James informed De Klerk about 2 projects he wanted to work on , one gas the other a diamond deal, he asked him to set up a company of which James would be sole director. De klerk enquired on progress but was told to wait and about aug 19 a certian Zhang emailed him
Zhang was a hong kong based lawyer who wanted to discuss a gas project and apoint him as the Nam agent and De Klerk assumed he was referred by James. He set up the company and a bank account in khazakstan and paid 60k us dollars requested as security to the bank
Zhang emailed him a sale agreement which deklerk was to receive 68 million USD as the agent for the agreement for Zhang. De Klerk received the 68 mill USD and kept it for Zhang while they verified the quality of the gas weeks later zhange informed him the gas was not good quality
Zhang told him the gas had to be purified by a bulgarian company, at that time the hong kong based companys ceo apparently had a stroke and was in a coma, he asked if De klerk coul pay 230K USD for the purification which he asked James and james said yes.
2 Weeks later Zhang calld & informed De klerk that the purification was a flop & the money was lost.
He says that he kept meeting james and sacky on other legal related mattrs bt nomore instructions to pay out monies to third parties. he ws instructed 2 take 200k pay for himself
he called james to discuss the failed investment to which he was told to pay 230k USD and take 190k NAD as his fee. he was also told to pay Appolus shikwameni a 1 million for which he did not know what but did.
AFTER NOVEMBER 2019
De Klerk said after seeing the al Jazeera video, he contacted his firms compliance officer cotzee, they agreed to report his/firms involvement to the FIC. He says they uploaded a report in Dec 2019 to the FIC & were instructed to ringfence the remaining money
they had about 4,6 million left & they cordoned this off, this money remains untouched in his firms account to date. In Dec 19 de klerk says his health started deteorating due to fishrot stress, in Jan 20 he met Comm Becker & discussed the matter, Comm referred him to an advocate
who was working for the ACC, advocate van der merwe called him to set up a meeting and he called adv schimming chase to go with him but his Adv told him to go alone so as not to seem he was hiding anything.
when he arrived at the ACC offices, the atmosphere was quite hostile, he was interogated by 7/8 ACC staff who told him they knew abt payments he made for fishrot & why he didnt come clean earlier when the matter was exposed in Nov 19.
he said he thought the FIC reprt was enough
after the meeting he went to his office and provided info relating to Esau's property he bought he also pledged to coorperate with the ACC in whatever way they needed. he says he suffered a nervous break down and was admitted in hospital from 25 Jan-14feb 20 bc of this
he further states he often certified documents for Penderis without certifying authenticity as they were his friends, and also signed docs deposed by his colleagues without them present.
he stresses that he knows he committed criminal offences but askes to be used as as state witness as per s204 of the Anti Corruption Act and accordingly receive such protection as he complied and is willing to assist in the investigation.
he closes off by saying the affidavit was prepared in haste and asking the affidavit to be kept secret until investigations are complete as his life might be put in danger if revealed seeing who he is implicating.
this was written in April 2020 and I hope this summary of what is already out there gives you an idea of what is going on.
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