(MISA/IFEX) – The fishing company Gendev has offered a Namibian$100,000 (approx. US$14,500) reward to anyone who provides conclusive evidence on who leaked a draft press statement on damaged Namibian cans of fish. Although neither the fishing industry nor government have disputed the authenticity of the information about the cracked fish cans, which led to the […]
(MISA/IFEX) – The fishing company Gendev has offered a Namibian$100,000 (approx. US$14,500) reward to anyone who provides conclusive evidence on who leaked a draft press statement on damaged Namibian cans of fish.
Although neither the fishing industry nor government have disputed the authenticity of the information about the cracked fish cans, which led to the entire 1998 production batch being recalled world wide, attention has focused on the release of the unsanctioned information. Tests on the cracked cans eventually proved there was no contamination of the fish. The “Namibian” newspaper reports that the leaking of the information had threatened the company’s operations in Namibia.
After posting the reward, Gendev said it had also instructed its lawyers to sue the “Windhoek Observer” newspaper, which first carried the story, if it failed to voluntarily divulge the source of the press leak. The company said it had already obtained a sworn statement from the paper’s editor confirming that the leaked document did not come from Gendev.
