Samherji

Samherji hf.
Company typeHlutafélag
IndustryFishing industry
Founded1972
HeadquartersAkureyri, Iceland
Key people
Þorsteinn Már Baldvinsson, CEO
ProductsVarious seafood products
Number of employees
850 (Iceland)
Websitewww.samherji.is
"Vilhelm Þorsteinsson EA 11", Samherji's vessel for pelagic fishing. Akureyri, Iceland.
"Vilhelm Þorsteinsson EA 11", Samherji's new, vessel for pelagic fishing. In its home port, Akureyri, North Iceland.

Samherji hf. is a fishing and fish processing company in Iceland. It is the largest fishing company in Iceland, and one of the largest in Europe.[1][2] It was founded in Grindavík in 1972.[1] Its current headquarters are in Akureyri, but the company operates in many locations in Iceland and throughout the world. The company employs approximately 800 staff in Iceland, and 800 staff abroad.[1] One of its companies is the sales company Seagold Ltd. in England, led by Gústaf Baldvinsson.

In 1983, Þorsteinn Már Baldvínsson and his relatives Kristján Vilhelmsson and Þorsteinn Vilhelmsson bought nearly all the stocks in Samherji, and have controlled the company since.[1]

Þorsteinn Már Baldvinsson is the current CEO, having resumed that role in February of 2021[3] after having stepped down on 14 November 2019, with Björgólfur Jóhannesson acting as CEO in the interim.[4] [5]

Samherji owns nearly 16% of the transferable quotas in the Icelandic fisheries sector.[1]

2019 Namibia scandal

Main article: Fishrot Files

On 12 November 2019, WikiLeaks published thousands of documents and email communication by Samherji's employees, called the Fishrot Files, that indicated that the company had paid hundreds of millions ISK to high ranking politicians and officials in Namibia with the objective of acquiring the country's coveted fishing quota.[6] That same day, Jóhannes Stefánsson, the former general manager of Samherji in Namibia and a whistleblower working with anti-corruption authorities in Namibia, and other countries, stated on the investigative TV-program Kveikur on RÚV that Samherji's CEO and biggest shareholder, Þorsteinn Már Baldvinsson, authorized the bribe payments.[7] On 13 November, Namibia's Minister of Fisheries, Bernhardt Esau, and Minister of Justice, Sacky Shanghala, were forced to resign due to their involvement in the scandal.[8]

In response to the allegations, Samherji published a statement where Jóhannes Stefánsson, the former general manager, was accused of being behind the alleged bribes and that other high ranking staff members were unaware of his actions.[9] Although Jóhannes did admit to being part of the bribe sceme,[10] further records showed that he never had control of the bank accounts in Cyprus, where the money flowed through, and that the alleged bribes continued for three years after he left the company.[11]

In May 2021, internal conversations were leaked to the press which showed that since the start of the Namibia scandal, Samherji has employed a special "guerrilla division" with the objective of conducting smear campaigns against the company's critics and journalists who investigated the bribery scheme. In an example of astroturfing, the company had hired a lawyer and public relations manager to pen and edit opinion articles and social media entries which were then published under the name of a ship's captain in Samherji's employ.[12] This unofficial division within the company had monitored the travels and personal finances of some of the company's critics in order to uncover material that might damage their credibility.[13][14] In an effort to improve news coverage of the company, the division also attempted to influence the leadership election of Iceland's main union of journalists.[15]

The leaked conversations also show that Samherji had planned to dissuade Jóhannes from testifying against the company in Namibian courts by separately suing him for theft in the country.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Fjölskyldufyrirtækið sem teygir sig um allan heim". Stundin. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  2. ^ "Samherji hefur hagnast um 112 milljarða á átta árum". Kjarninn (in Icelandic). 12 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  3. ^ "Þorsteinn Már Resumes As Samherji's Sole Director". Iceland Review. 2021-02-15. Retrieved 2021-06-15.
  4. ^ "Þorsteinn Már stígur til hliðar sem forstjóri Samherja". 14 November 2019.
  5. ^ "Myndir frá forstjóraskiptum".
  6. ^ Helgi Seljan; Aðalsteinn Kjartansson; Stefán Aðalsteinn Drengsson. "What Samherji wanted hidden". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  7. ^ Ingi Freyr Vilhjálmsson (12 November 2019). "An Icelandic fishing company bribed officials in Namibia and used Norway's largest bank to transfer 70 million dollars to a tax haven". Stundin (in Icelandic). Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  8. ^ Steindór Grétar Jónsson (13 November 2019). "Namibísku ráðherrarnir segja af sér". Stundin (in Icelandic). Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  9. ^ Birgir Olgeirsson (12 November 2019). "Þorsteinn Már skellir skuldinni á uppljóstrarann". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  10. ^ "Samherji kennir Jóhannesi um allt – Segjast ekkert hafa að fela". Kjarninn (in Icelandic). 12 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  11. ^ Ingi Freyr Vilhjálmsson (13 November 2019). "Félög Samherja á Kýpur greiddu 280 milljónir í mútur eftir að Jóhannes hætti". Stundin (in Icelandic). Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  12. ^ Aðalsteinn Kjartansson (21 May 2021). "Tannhjólin í áróðursvél Samherja". Stundin. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  13. ^ Arnar Þór Ingólfsson (22 May 2021). ""Hallgrímur Helgason rithöfundur er ekki skráður eigandi Teslu"". Kjarninn. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  14. ^ Arnar Þór Ingólfsson (26 May 2021). ""Skæruliðadeildin" grennslaðist fyrir um meint heimshornaflakk Helga Seljan". Kjarninn. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  15. ^ "Samherji hafi reynt að hafa áhrif á formannskjör BÍ". mbl.is. 22 May 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  16. ^ Aðalsteinn Kjartansson (21 May 2021). "Leggja á ráðin um að kæra Jóhannes til að koma í veg fyrir vitnisburð". Stundin. Retrieved 26 May 2021.

www.samherji.is Samherji's Official Web Site in English