Prosecutor has yet to decide on Samherji Namibia case

Iceland’s District Prosecutor has not reached a decision in the Samherji Namibia case, nearly 17 months after the investigation ended, Morgunblaðið reports. District Prosecutor Ólafur Þór Hauksson said the case remained under consideration and that work on it had continued steadily.

Hauksson said he could not discuss the details of the process or say when a decision might be expected. He described the case as unusual in several respects and acknowledged that it was taking a long time to resolve. He added that the parties to the case, rather than the media, should be given information about the timing of a decision.

Nine people, including current and former Samherji employees, have suspect status in the case. The investigation was completed around the end of June or beginning of July 2025.

The case came to public attention after a 12 November 2019 episode of Kveikur, a programme on Iceland’s public broadcaster. Former Samherji employee in Namibia Jóhannes Stefánsson leaked thousands of documents to WikiLeaks. The documents were said to indicate that Samherji had bribed Namibian politicians and officials to secure fishing quotas.

Payments were alleged to have been made through tax havens in other countries, in return for fishing quotas for companies linked to Samherji, including quotas for horse mackerel. Separately, proceedings are under way in Namibian courts against ten Namibians charged with alleged offences.