Morupisi's troubles with the law
Mpho Mokwape | Monday November 7, 2022 06:00
Who is Morupisi?
Morupisi is a Motswana who was appointed the Permanent Secretary to the President and Secretary to Cabinet in October 2014 and left the public sector in 2019 still holding the same position. According to his biography, he began his career as an Assistant Animal Production Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture in 1982 and advanced in his career to be the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture in 2006. He then moved to the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology October in 2009 where he assumed the role of Permanent Secretary.
Following his stint as Permanent Secretary, he progressed to head the Directorate of Public Service Management as its Director, where he was responsible for human resources policy formulation and administration of the terms and conditions of service for the Botswana Public Service. Morupisi reportedly holds an MSc in Animal Science from the New Mexico State University.
The genesis of his fall from grace
It all went down in early May 2019 when the media picked wind of allegations of a missing P500 million from the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) entrusted in the hands of an asset manager, Capital Management Botswana (CMB). The CMB, tasked with managing BPOPF assets, faced allegations that its directors being Rapula Okaile and Tim Marsland together with BPOPF director, Morupisi, were accused to have fraudulently siphoned the funds for their own personal use.
The allegations opened a can of worms and subsequently Morupisi was caught in the middle of the saga as he was at the time the director of BPOPF and investigations by the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) reportedly revealed that he was one of those who benefitted from the alleged missing funds. Then in early August 2019 the DCEC agents pounced on Morupisi and served him at his office after securing clearance from President Mokgweetsi Masisi.
Morupisi’s wife, Pinny, was also charged in relation to a Land Cruiser allegedly registered under her name and bought from the CMB proceeds received from the pension fund. The former PSP had been charged with money laundering, bribery and abuse of office. His wife was charged with money laundering. “The charges are in connection with the CMB matter,” a source at the time told Mmegi. Morupisi was later charged with two counts of corruption and one count of money laundering.
The Court Case
During the highly publicised case, the former legal service advisor for the BPOPF, Musa Nleya admitted that the former PSP signed the BPOPF contract and that he did not advice him as he did not owe him any duty to do so.
Nleya, who was one of the key witnesses in the Morupisi trial, said he was present during the signing of the BPOPF and Capital Management Botswana (CMB) contract though he knew it was wrong for such to be happening.
“I was present at the signing and I did not advice Morupisi because there was no board, it had been dissolved and there was a court order that he was aware of,” he said. He admitted during cross-examination from Morupisi that he did not directly offer any legal advice to him, as he owed him no duty except the Acting Chief Executive Officer, Lesedi Moakofhi who was also present at the signing and a co-signatory to the contract.
Nleya told court that he had offered his legal advice to the acting CEO and that it was up to her to take the advice to Morupisi and to not continue with the signing of the contract. When he was probed by Morupisi’s lawyer why he did not offer Morupisi advice and made him aware why he could not sign, Nleya said Morupisi was aware of the court order and he knew that the board had been dissolved by it.
“He was aware of the court order as it was sent to him and he knew that the order said that no undertaking regarding the business of the board as there was no board seating,” he said.
However, when asked about the details of the order, Nleya could not be certain if it also removed Morupisi since he was the chairman. He explained that the order was not specific on that part and that he was not certain if it included Morupisi but continued to point out that either the contract was not supposed to be signed without the resolution of the board.
Another state’s key witness, Thandy Seboko who was the Head of Forensic at First National Bank (FNB), also took the stand and told court that as the bank they held about nine accounts, one which belonged to the BPOPF, one to the Botswana Opportunities Partnership (BOP), four belonging to CMB, one belonging to Morupisi, one belonging to a company called Tops Operations, while one belonged to the CMB Fund 1, which were all governed by mandates.
During her evidence she said there were many transactions that happened between an account held by Morupisi and a company called Manor Squad Services and that the transactions indicated that they were for a car payment.
“There were about 13 transactions from Morupisi’s account to Manor Squad that was held by FNB South Africa indicating that Morupisi was paying for the Land Cruiser.
At the time, Morupisi’ lawyers said there was nothing wrong in buying a car from someone without involving the bank and indicated that he was only using Manor Squad to buy a car using his personal savings and that he did not involve the bank as he did not want high bank charges. “There was nothing sinister about Morupisi using Manor Squad to purchase his vehicle without involving the bank, as there was no crime in that,” said his lawyers.
The vehicle purchased, a Toyota Land Cruiser at a cost of R630,988.99 was at the centre of Morupisi’s trial as it was alleged that he bought it with funds from the CMB.
Verdict
Morupisi was on Monday convicted on all three counts by Justice Mokwadi Gabanagae of the Gaborone High Court while acquitting his wife, Pinny. The judge said the State led enough evidence against Morupisi especially if one looks at the way the purported sale agreement was prepared and executed.
“I find that the State has proved the charges against Morupisi on all the three counts beyond any reasonable doubt. I find the State’s evidence strong especially the evidence of Seboko,” he said. Morupisi will be sentenced on Tuesday (November 8) after turning down a chance to mitigate.