Fitty to continue push for freedom in October

Fishrot accused Tamson ‘Fitty’ Hatuikulipi’s second bail application, which he said is based on new facts, was yesterday postponed until 10 October.

Hatuikulipi’s lawyer Florian Beukes completed his re-examination of his client yesterday afternoon and indicated that they would not call any further witnesses and would therefore close their case.

The State indicated that it will only call one witness to testify against the granting of bail. The matter has been scheduled for 10 to 14 October.

Re-examination

During Beukes' re-examination, he gave Hatuikulipi the opportunity to explain why he claims the State tampered with documents, to which he responded that some of the documents had been retyped.

"If they retyped it, they could also edit it."

He specifically referred to an email which indicated that he reached out to Fishrot whistle-blower Johannes Stefánsson in December 2010, but he testified that he only met Stefánsson a year later in December 2011.

Hatuikulipi also referred to another email co-accused James Hatuikulipi sent him around 18:00 on the day in question, but the state's documents showed that Tamson replied at 17:00, which is not technically possible.

Tax evasion

Beukes also questioned Hatuikulipi about a consolidated taxpayer statement from his auditor which shows that he does not owe any tax to the government.

This despite an analysis to the contrary the State received from the finance ministry and submitted as evidence.

The ministry report was completed in May 2020, after Hatuikulipi's arrest. The consolidated taxpayer statement was issued in October 2020.

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