Former Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources and Fishrot accused, Bernhardt Esau, says he is willing to pay bail of N$200,000.

He said this as he pleaded with the High Court for his release.

During Thursday's bail hearing, Esau disputed the evidence that implicates him in the laundering of millions of dollars using entities placed under his care.

Bernhardt Esau, while acknowledging that he once held an important public office, says he remains a citizen of Namibia and reminds the court that he too should be treated like any other citizen.

The former minister also informed the presiding judge, David Munsu, that his co-accused, specifically Mike Nghipunya, used his name to distribute and sell fishing quotas while redirecting funds meant for Governmental Objectives for their own benefit.

Esau further denied having instructed or given direction to former Fishcor CEO Mike Nghipunya or any other person to distribute or sell fishing quotas under the Governmental Objectives.

He added that, as Minister then, he had however signed off some documents and admitted that he did not verify the contents of the documents as he trusted those he worked with.

Esau informed Judge Munsu that after receiving lists of fishing quota beneficiaries from Fishcor, he signed the list off without verifying the benefactors, saying he trusted Nghipunya and never suspected anything to be untoward.

He explained that the office of the minister was not capacitated to verify such lists.

Icelandic fishing giant Samherji is alleged to have made direct payments to some of the benefactors under the guise of Governmental Objectives.

Two senior lawyers were also mentioned during the court proceedings by Esau.

One of them is Sisa Namandje, who is said to have been paid more than N$15 million.

The payment was tagged as Governmental Objective and was allegedly made on the instruction of Esau.

However, Esau has denied these allegations.

Another payment was made to fugitive lawyer Maren De Klerk's law firm, allegedly also on the instruction of Esau.

These funds were allegedly meant for the then-presidential elections in 2014, which Esau also denied.

Multiple payments totaling millions of dollars were made to various close corporations in which some of the Fishrot suspects allegedly held a stake.

But Esau would not comment on under whose instructions such payments were made, informing the court that he could not speak on behalf of his co-accused.