The Fishrot case: 9 out of 10 Icelanders believe that Samherji bribed Namibian politicians
92 percent of Icelanders believe that the shipping company Samherji paid millions of dollars in bribes to a group of politicians and their cronies in Namibia in exchange for fishing quotas. The case is known in Namibia and internationally as the Fishrot case. Only 8 percent of the people believe that Samherji did not use bribes to secure access to the fishing quotas, specifically the horse mackerel quota.
This is one of the main results of a poll conducted by the company MMR for Stundina in January this year. 1,127 Icelanders aged eighteen and over took part in the survey.
The Fishrot case is the biggest corruption case in the history of both Namibia and Iceland. The case is currently under investigation in Namibia, where seven Namibians and three Icelanders are accused of accepting bribes, money laundering and other crimes, and in Iceland, where the investigation has not been completed. In Iceland, six current and former employees have the legal status of suspects in the investigation, one of them is Samherji’s CEO and founder, Þorsteinn Már Baldvinsson.
The opinion survey is one of a series of reports that Stundin published about the situation of Samherji in Iceland, especially in Akureyri and Dalvík, following the Fishrot case. Part of the money that Samherji made from his fishing in Africa, first in Mauritania and Morocco and later in Namibia, was later reinvested in Iceland through various Samherji subsidiaries, for example in Cyprus. There is therefore a direct link between Samherji’s operations in Africa, where Samherji generated between 10 and 40 percent of its income between 2007 and 2019, and shipping in Iceland.
“Samherji firmly denies that its management ever intended for any subsidiary to participate in illegal activities”
Samherji has pleaded not guilty
Samherji has denied the accusations of accepting bribes despite the company’s defense policy having changed significantly in the last year: “Samherji firmly denies that its management ever intended for a subsidiary to engage in illegal activities, including bribery or money laundering, in order to obtain benefits and will vehemently refute any further allegations on that matter,” the company said in a statement last summer.
Only after Wikileaks, the Icelandic investigative television program Kveikur, the Qatari television station Al Jazeera and Stundin reported on the bribe payments in November 2019, Samherji tried to blame what happened in Namibia on its former manager in the country, Jóhannes Stefánsson, who is an informant in the Fishrot case. The bribes have amounted to more than 10 million US dollars, but that amount has increased significantly following investigations into the case in Namibia.
Samherji did not use that method for long since the bribe payments continued long after Stefánsson left the company in 2016. The Icelandic shipping company now claims to have paid some consulting fees, but completely denies having paid bribes. Samherji has used his website to publish his defense and refute the allegations in the Fishrot case in recent months.
The company also made YouTube videos denying the allegations, as well as attacking Iceland’s state media company, RUV, and its journalists who led media coverage of the Fishrot case.
One indication of the results of the poll shows that Samherja seems to have failed in its attempts to have a major impact on public opinion in Iceland about the company’s actions in Namibia. Roughly 9 out of 10 Icelanders believe that the stories about Samherji’s bribe payments are true, even though the company says they are baseless.
The difference between Akureyri and the rest of Iceland
Another indication of the survey is the obvious difference between the opinions of people in Akureyri, the town in the North where Samherji was founded and the company is headquartered, and in other parts of the country. For example, “only” 71 percent of the residents of Akureyri, and the adjacent fishing village in Dalvík where Samherji is the largest employer, believe the stories about the bribes are true. 29 percent of the residents of Akureyri and Dalvík believe that Samherji did not pay a bribe. This is more than three times higher than elsewhere in Iceland.
Samherja employs over 500 people in Akureyri and Dalvík, where it operates two fish farms. This is a significant number of jobs in a small municipality with a population of twenty thousand. Over the past decade, Samherji has also donated around 685 million Icelandic ISK, equivalent to around 5 million US dollars, to good causes in the region. It has supported sports clubs, donated money to schools and hospitals and bought a new chairlift for the ski area in Akureyri.
Other results of the survey also support the statement that the opinions of residents in Akureyri and Dalvík are more positive than elsewhere in Iceland. For example, 47 percent of the population say that their opinion of Samherji has not changed in the last two years, while only 28 percent of citizens elsewhere on the island say that their opinion of Samherji has not changed. Similarly, 69 percent of citizens living outside of Akureyri and Dalvík say that their opinion of Samherji has worsened in the last two years, while 46 percent of the townspeople say that their attitude toward the company has changed for the worse.
In this respect, the survey shows a significant difference between the groups, residents of Akureyri and Dalvík on the one hand and residents of other parts of Iceland on the other, although the majority of both groups believe that Samherji took part in paying bribes.
Fishrot has not changed the minds of many local councillors
Although the Fishrot case in Namibia seems to have had a great impact on public opinion in Iceland, it has not changed the opinions of many municipal politicians in Akureyri, where Samherji is the largest private employer. Only the University of Akureyri and Landspítalin employ more.
The mayor of Akureyri, Ásthildur Sturludóttir, says, for example, that the Fishrot case did not make her change her mind about Samherja. “I can’t say that it is, but it’s just a matter that I can’t begin to have an opinion on.” […] Of course I was shocked, but this is just one issue,” says Sturludóttir.
“In general, I believe that people trust Samherji completely”
One of Akureyri’s municipal politicians, Þórhallur Jónsson, also says: “Samherji is a very good and strong company that plays a large part in the business life in this area. In general, I believe that people trust Samherji completely and that this has not changed much. following Fishrot- case. I certainly do. My sense is that people in this area are not ready to pass judgment and want to wait for the outcome of the investigation.”
Another politician in Akureyri, Halla Björk Reynisdóttir, says her opinion of Samherja has not changed yet, but it could change, based on what the investigation will lead to.
“I think people are generally sorry about this. But people are just waiting to see what the investigation will lead to and if Samherji did the things they are accused of. I hope they finish the investigation soon. Regarding my own personal Samherji’s opinion has not changed, but my final opinion will be based on the results of the investigation,” says Halla Björk.
As can be seen from the words of town politicians in Akureyri, Samherji is an important company in the community. What also appears in their words is that the results of the investigations into the Fishrot case in this country, and possibly also in Namibia, are likely to have a further impact on the company’s position in the home area of Akureyri.