On 12 November 2019, WikiLeaks began publishing what it called the Fishrot Files (Icelandic: Samherjaskjölin), a collection of thousands of documents and email communication by employees of one of Iceland's largest fish industry companies, Samherji, 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.[1] 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.[2]
The scandal also reached Norway when it was revealed that its biggest bank, Den Norske Bank, was involved in transferring money used in the alleged bribes.[3][4]
On 15 November 2019, Fréttablaðið published a story about an email exchange between the general manager of Síldarvinnslan hf., Gunnþór Ingvason, and Samherji employees, Aðalsteinn Helgason, Jóhannes Stefánsson, and an unidentified third man. Fréttablaðið stated that Gunnþór asked for advice on behalf of Henrik Leth, the chairman of Polar Seafood, the largest private fish industry company in Greenland,[5] on conning fishing quota out of authorities in Greenland and pointed to their experience in Namibia.[6] At that time, Síldarvinnslan and Polar Seafood owned together with the East Greenland Codfish company. Both Gunnþór and Leth stated that the email had been taken out of context and pointed out that the full transcript clearly states that a third party had voiced interest in building a fish factory in Ammasalik on the east coast of Greenland, something they believed was only a ploy to obtain fishing quota from the government. They further stated that the purpose of the email was to obtain information on the potential cost of such buildup, as Samherji had done a similar buildup in Africa, to see if it was feasible.[7][8]