The Minister never suspected
that there might be anything dodgy about a squat man with jet black shades, double breasted suit, going under the moniker of Roberto Von Palace Kolbatschenko but with real name Vito Palazzono, and a native of Sicily. Scary, huh? And this is not Andorra’s minister for seaweed reclamation but Namibia’s Minister of Mines and Energy, Mr. Erkki Nghimtina, formerly also Minister of Defence.
Over the past few days, information has been unfolding over local politicians’ dealings with the Mafia – not even the new Russian or Asian Mafia but the old-fashioned Sicilian kind. Much of this has been disclosed by the excellent (and free) newspaper Informanté, presumably paid for by the loyal policyholders of Trustco, who are subsiding a good news service to the rest of us. Many thanks, and acknowledgments to them for the picture. (There are persistent rumours, by the way, that on the days when bundles of the newspaper are placed in distribution bins for the public to help themselves; teams from various government offices rush around, removing and destroying them before they can be read. After the latest issue, I wouldn’t be surprised).
Anyway, the story of course revolves around mineral rights, especially uranium – as soon as the price of yellowcake rose above $75 a pound, every crook from Albania to Nova Zembla, and every brass plate ‘mining company’ from the same area was attracted here like flies. Equally obviously, all our local ‘business consultants’ got in on the act. The cast of characters is wearily familiar – senior politicians and VIPs together with the usual gaggle of their brothers, sons, spouses, sisters, cousins and aunts.
Specifically, it seems that our Minister upstaged the interests of a fairly legitimate mining company in favour of (surprise surprise) an outfit led by the son of the First President. At some stage, our Mr. Palazzono aka von Whatever appeared – he did not have far to travel as he was on the run from South Africa - and advanced US$ 10 million to said outfit, in return for what? Presumably for a slice of the action, and a slice of the yellowcake. Mr. Nghimtina of course did not think anything was amiss – this advance was just a goodwill gesture and get-to-know-you present. Mr Palazzono is now believed to be house hunting for a suitable des res in Windhoek. Heaven help us. The questions I would like an answer to is: How much of the US$ 10 million have the Minister and the Founding Father’s son put respectively into their capacious back pockets?
It may be a relief that the Mafia has some competition in the race for the ‘cake. The Prime Minister has evidently had some secret meetings with his Russian counterpart, who presumably did not visit Namibia solely to see the Welwitschias. Also present, (surprise surprise again), were reps of the Russian technical ‘assistance’ and export organisation, and Vneshtorgbank, the Russian state-owned banking behemoth. To what extent have Namibian uranium reserves been promised on fixed price forward contracts to fuel (literally) the Russian mini-reactor export programme? How much was in it for the Prime Minister?
Of course, uranium may be something new for the mafia but they do not neglect their traditional interests. Diamonds especially. No surprise again that Mr. Palschenko has a Namibian diamond dealing and cutting licence through one of his front companies. Actually, the Namibian paper published a list of the diamond cutting licensees, and some surprising names emerge. The mayor of Windhoek for instance, Mr. Matheus Shikongo. I thought being the Mayor of Windhoek was a full-time job. What is he doing with a diamond cutting licence? Does he make nice anniversary presents for his wife in his back garage?
The underlying problem is that, despite all the anti-corruption talk, the fact is that if you provide a senior politician with a new Merc, a mining concession and/or fishing quota, and organise for a street somewhere to be named after him, he is yours for life. 10 million dollars helps as well, of course.
Many people have been debating the potential of nuclear energy for Namibia. Maybe the question is a non-starter – by the time we are ready to seriously consider this question, all the uranium will have been sold off to the Mafia (Russian or otherwise), and we will be back to burning firewood, or obtaining electricity from Zimbabwe ({:>? )
that there might be anything dodgy about a squat man with jet black shades, double breasted suit, going under the moniker of Roberto Von Palace Kolbatschenko but with real name Vito Palazzono, and a native of Sicily. Scary, huh? And this is not Andorra’s minister for seaweed reclamation but Namibia’s Minister of Mines and Energy, Mr. Erkki Nghimtina, formerly also Minister of Defence.
Over the past few days, information has been unfolding over local politicians’ dealings with the Mafia – not even the new Russian or Asian Mafia but the old-fashioned Sicilian kind. Much of this has been disclosed by the excellent (and free) newspaper Informanté, presumably paid for by the loyal policyholders of Trustco, who are subsiding a good news service to the rest of us. Many thanks, and acknowledgments to them for the picture. (There are persistent rumours, by the way, that on the days when bundles of the newspaper are placed in distribution bins for the public to help themselves; teams from various government offices rush around, removing and destroying them before they can be read. After the latest issue, I wouldn’t be surprised).
Anyway, the story of course revolves around mineral rights, especially uranium – as soon as the price of yellowcake rose above $75 a pound, every crook from Albania to Nova Zembla, and every brass plate ‘mining company’ from the same area was attracted here like flies. Equally obviously, all our local ‘business consultants’ got in on the act. The cast of characters is wearily familiar – senior politicians and VIPs together with the usual gaggle of their brothers, sons, spouses, sisters, cousins and aunts.
Specifically, it seems that our Minister upstaged the interests of a fairly legitimate mining company in favour of (surprise surprise) an outfit led by the son of the First President. At some stage, our Mr. Palazzono aka von Whatever appeared – he did not have far to travel as he was on the run from South Africa - and advanced US$ 10 million to said outfit, in return for what? Presumably for a slice of the action, and a slice of the yellowcake. Mr. Nghimtina of course did not think anything was amiss – this advance was just a goodwill gesture and get-to-know-you present. Mr Palazzono is now believed to be house hunting for a suitable des res in Windhoek. Heaven help us. The questions I would like an answer to is: How much of the US$ 10 million have the Minister and the Founding Father’s son put respectively into their capacious back pockets?
It may be a relief that the Mafia has some competition in the race for the ‘cake. The Prime Minister has evidently had some secret meetings with his Russian counterpart, who presumably did not visit Namibia solely to see the Welwitschias. Also present, (surprise surprise again), were reps of the Russian technical ‘assistance’ and export organisation, and Vneshtorgbank, the Russian state-owned banking behemoth. To what extent have Namibian uranium reserves been promised on fixed price forward contracts to fuel (literally) the Russian mini-reactor export programme? How much was in it for the Prime Minister?
Of course, uranium may be something new for the mafia but they do not neglect their traditional interests. Diamonds especially. No surprise again that Mr. Palschenko has a Namibian diamond dealing and cutting licence through one of his front companies. Actually, the Namibian paper published a list of the diamond cutting licensees, and some surprising names emerge. The mayor of Windhoek for instance, Mr. Matheus Shikongo. I thought being the Mayor of Windhoek was a full-time job. What is he doing with a diamond cutting licence? Does he make nice anniversary presents for his wife in his back garage?
The underlying problem is that, despite all the anti-corruption talk, the fact is that if you provide a senior politician with a new Merc, a mining concession and/or fishing quota, and organise for a street somewhere to be named after him, he is yours for life. 10 million dollars helps as well, of course.
Many people have been debating the potential of nuclear energy for Namibia. Maybe the question is a non-starter – by the time we are ready to seriously consider this question, all the uranium will have been sold off to the Mafia (Russian or otherwise), and we will be back to burning firewood, or obtaining electricity from Zimbabwe ({:>? )
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