Iceland’s largest fishing company tried to silence a whistleblower who had information about an alleged multimillion-dollar bribery scheme by having him involuntarily committed to a hospital, Africa Confidential has reported.
Samherji established a secretive group of employees known as the “guerrilla unit” who conspired to destroy the reputation of Jóhannes Stefánsson, a company executive who knew about bribes paid to obtain fishing rights in Namibia. “Hopefully [our CEO] will sharpen the knives and go on to slaughter Jóhannes,” a guerrilla unit member e-mailed to another. “Yes, I know. I want to stab, turn and sprinkle salt into the wound,” the colleague responded, according to Africa Confidential.
The clandestine group, also known as the “shadow department,” went so far as to hire a private investigator to portray Stefánsson as an alcoholic in order to have him committed to a substance abuse hospital in Iceland, Africa Confidential reported on Feb. 17. The private investigator urged the hospital to hold Stefánsson immediately because had been “drinking uncontrollably,” and said Samherji itself would pay for the involuntary confinement, according to leaked documents seen by the newspaper.
This episode of the Fishrot scandal shows not only how far Samherji would go in its efforts to silence Stefánsson. It is also representative of how witnesses around the world continue to suffer often brutal reprisals despite more than 50 countries having passed whistleblower protection...
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