He pleaded not guilty. Mhlauli, a former Permanent Secretary in the former Ministry of Local Government and Lands previously faced three counts but the Directorate of Public Prosecutions withdrew the second count yesterday because of insufficient evidence.
The first to take to the witness box was Gaborone businessman, Eddie Norman, who told the court that in 1997, he applied for two plots of land on which a petrol filling station was built near the Gaborone Club going towards Tlokweng.
The application was approved the following year and he registered a company named Edco Investments (Pty) Ltd.
The land was later transferred to the company, whose shareholders were himself (60 percent) and his sister (40 percent) as well as his son, who was a director.
He said that after approaching several developers and financiers he came across a consultant who connected him to Group Five Botswana.