Fishrot lawyer’s extradition parked - for now

The extradition of Marén de Klerk, a former attorney implicated in the Fishrot scandal, has been temporarily halted at the request of South African authorities. Despite the fact that the application for De Klerk&#039;s extradition to Namibia has been withdrawn, Prosecutor-General Martha Imalwa has assured that this is not the end of the matter.De Klerk fled the country in January 2020 following investigations into his possible involvement in the Fishrot scandal. He was subsequently sought by the Namibian government in connection with charges of corruption, fraud, theft and money laundering. He stands accused of using his law firm&#039;s trust account for the distribution of ill-gotten gains related to various accounts in the Fishrot corruption trial.In February 2022, the Paarl Magistrate’s Court issued a warrant for his arrest, and he was taken into custody in Paarl in June last year. He was soon granted bail of N$50 000, which was recently refunded to him.Incorrect procedureFollowing De Klerk’s arrest, his extradition hearing began, handled by the South African National Prosecuting Authority. The case has since been postponed several times and was scheduled to resume last week in the Paarl Magistrate’s Court.Two Namibian prosecutors, Cliff Lutibezi and Timotheus Itula, travelled to South Africa at the request of the Office of the Prosecutor-General to attend the proceedings. The case was reportedly withdrawn based on a Supreme Court ruling in South Africa that found that extradition requests should be brought by a country&#039;s justice ministry, not the prosecutor-general as in De Klerk&#039;s case. The case was therefore withdrawn because the correct procedures were not followed. The withdrawal was effected by the South African prosecutor. According to Imalwa, they are still in communication with the authorities in South Africa about the way forward.‘Just following orders’De Klerk has previously argued in court documents filed in other court proceedings that he is innocent."I strongly deny that I was part of any criminal activities and want to emphasise that I just carried out orders," he claimed at the time. He argued that he merely followed the instructions of the former attorney-general and now Fishrot-accused Sacky Shanghala and his partner and now co-accused James Hatuikulipi."In May 2017, I was instructed by the attorney-general as a legal practitioner to manage the Swapo election campaign. I had no reason to doubt the legality of the instructions. Based on these orders, I received funds from various companies, which I then paid over to certain individuals and entities," a statement from De Klerk read.Before he was arrested and taken into custody last year, he claimed he had feared for his life for the past three years."There were indications that people were looking for me and it was not South African police officers, but rather rogue agents sent to either kidnap or kill me to prevent me from making any of the evidence in my possession known, or testifying in the Fishrot case," De Klerk said in a statement.

Fishrot lawyer’s extradition parked - for now

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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Fishrot lawyer’s extradition parked - for now

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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