Over 1,000 Namibian workers have filed claims to Icelandic authorities, asking to be classified as victims and include them in any future criminal proceedings against Icelandic fishing firm Samherji for its alleged role in the “Fishrot” scandal.
The Fishrot scandal dates back to November 2019 when WikiLeaks published 30,000 documents obtained from Samherji that it claimed exposed schemes the company engaged in in Namibia to gain access to lucrative fishing grounds.
WikiLeaks alleged the company bribed Namibian officials and politicians to gain access to the country’s resources, and the case eventually wound up in Namibian High Court. Officials in Namibia, including former Namibian Fisheries Minister Bernhard Esau and ex-Minister of Justice Sakeus Shanghala, along with several other suspects, were all brought under trial under allegations they deprived Namibia of millions of dollars through the scheme.
In 2021, former Samherji CEO Thorsteinn Mar Baldvinsson apologized for the incident, stating the company’s affiliates in Namibia had “a lot of chaos in their operations,” but said Samherji was neither aware of nor endorsed the activities.
Since then, reports have claimed links between Baldvinsson and Jóhannes Stefánsson, the former director of operations in Namibia, during the events of the scandal, artists have taken aim at Samherji in public campaigns, and Samherji has been sued for ISK 140 billion (USD 1.11 billion, EUR 945 million) by a U.K.-based debt collection company.
Now, backed by anti-corruption nonprofit Transparency International, over 1,000 Namibian workers are aiming to influence how victims of corruption are recognized and included in judicial proceedings in Iceland.
"The Fishrot scandal caused severe harm to workers and communities in Namibia. By supporting these claims in Iceland, we are making the human cost of corruption impossible to ignore," Transparency International Legal and Advocacy Advisor Alison Matthews said.
According to the nonprofit, the former fisheries workers suffered directly from the alleged scandal from 2012 to 2019 and have claimed that their loss of employment led to food and housing insecurity, psychological stress, inability to pay school fees, and debt accumulation, Transparency International said this highlights how corruption-related crimes extend beyond financial loss and have direct social and human consequences.
If these claims are accepted in a formal judiciary setting, Transparency International said it “would represent a groundbreaking development by allowing foreign victims of alleged corruption to become formally involved in criminal proceedings in Iceland, which could also set a precedent for similar cases beyond Iceland.”
"We’re also helping ensure these workers – the people on the ground who lost their livelihoods and more – have their day in court and the opportunity to seek remedies, including formal acknowledgement of the harm they suffered and financial compensation," Matthews said.
