Fishrot fugitive Marén de Klerk’s N$75.3m assets frozen

Acting prosecutor general Martha Imalwa has obtained a Prevention of Organised Crime Act property restraint order in respect of assets of fugitive lawyer Marén de Klerk valued at up to N$75.3 million.

Imalwa is targeting assets valued at up to N$75.3 million in respect of De Klerk and the company Celax Investments Number One, and assets valued at up to N$2.3 million in respect of the close corporation Moyo Estates in terms of a restraint of property order that acting judge James Devittie granted in the Windhoek High Court on 10 July.

Imalwa informs the court in a sworn statement that De Klerk, who left Namibia in January 2020, is a fugitive from justice in Namibia. A request for De Klerk’s extradition from South Africa, where he is believed to be living, to Namibia in order for him to be prosecuted was sent to South Africa’s Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in May this year, Imalwa also says in her affidavit.

De Klerk left Namibia shortly after he had been questioned by Anti-Corruption Commission investigators in connection with the Fishrot fraud, corruption and racketeering case about the alleged illegal allocation and use of Namibian fishing quotas worth hundreds of millions of Namibia dollars.

A warrant for the arrest of De Klerk was issued by a magistrate in Windhoek near the end of April 2021.