Norwegian bank probed over Namibian fisheries bribery allegations

Police in Norway are working with the country’s largest bank, DNB, to establish whether any laws were broken in its handling of payments from Icelandic fisheries company Samherji to Namibia.

The investigation follows the report by Iceland’s national broadcasting service RÚV that alleged Samherji had made illicit payments worth millions of dollars to secure fishing quotas in the African country. 

DNB is cooperating with Norway’s white-collar crime unit and has denied wrongdoing, Reuters reported.

Last month, Samherji hired the Norwegian law firm Wikborg Rein to assist its own investigations into the allegations of bribery made against the company’s operations in Namibia.

The company’s CEO, Thorsteinn Már Baldvinsson, stepped down in mid-November and has been replaced with an acting CEO while the investigation continues.

Photo courtesy of SiljeAO/Shutterstock

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