Cape Town – Convicted Cape Town toothfish and rock lobster poacher Arnold Bengis, his son and his US business partner must pay $54.9 million – about R455m – in restitution to the SA government for illegally poaching in SA waters over a five-year period.

That’s the recommendation of a US judge that, if affirmed by a higher court, will make the fine the biggest of its kind yet made under the Lacey Act, a specialist piece of legislation designed to stop any illegally obtained natural products from anywhere in the world being traded in the US.

In August 2001, Bengis – then head of Hout Bay Fishing Industries – his son David and US business partner Jeffrey Noll were bust by a joint SA-US law enforcement operation.

This came after SA authorities had in May that year seized and opened a container of illegally harvested fish that Bengis and his partners were trying to send to the US.

During 2001, SA arrest warrants were issued for Bengis but were never served because he stayed out of the country. After a plea bargain agreement with the Scorpions in April 2002, he returned briefly to SA when Hout Bay Fishing Industries was fined R12m, and forfeited several fishing vessels and a container of seafood.

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