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. It was founded in Grindavík in 1972. Its headquarters are in Akureyri, but the company operates in many places in Iceland and throughout the world. 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. The company employs approximately 800 staff in Iceland, and 800 staff abroad. On 14.November 2019, Þorsteinn Már Balvinsson stepped down as CEO and Björgólfur Jóhannesson became active CEO. Samherji owns nearly 16% of the transferable quotas in the Icelandic fisheries sector.
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. 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. On 13 November, Namibia's Minister of Fisheries, Bernhardt Esau, and Minister of Justice, Sacky Shanghala, where forced to resign due to their involvement in the scandal. 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. Although Jóhannes did admit to being part of the bribe sceme, further records showed that he never had control of the bank accountsin Cyprus, where the money flowed through, and that the alleged bribes continued for three years after he left the company.
