Morupisi: From anti-corruption hero to villain
Mpho Mokwape | Monday November 7, 2022 06:00
It is said that karma is the ‘belief that all the good and bad things that you do in this life affect how good or bad your future life will be’. Whether the Chinese were wrong or not, it would not matter to them as long as they believe Morupisi is today getting a dose of his own medicine. In 2011, two Chinese nationals Xiaxing Qui, general-manager of Whitacon and Xiaming Wang, then managing director of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, were put on the spotlight when Morupisi reported them for attempting to bribe him.
Morupisi was at the time the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology and it was around that time when he was hailed as a hero as an anti-corruption crusader who stood against any form of corruption and abuse of government resources. The two Chinese were alleged to have offered Morupisi P250,000 in order for him to assist them complete a government project in Shakawe and he turned down the offer and instead blew the whistle on the Chinese. The case was later withdrawn with liberty to reinstate and the duo would later be granted bail and believed to have skipped the country.
The corporation's international president Yuan Li was then forced to come to Botswana to apologise for the Shakawe blunder after the court issued a warrant of arrest against the Chinese nationals. In all these happenings, Morupisi was viewed as an anti corruption hero who was willing to let go of a large sum of money for integrity and upholding good image for many public officers. Now all this heroism came all crumbling down in 2019 when he was accused of misappropriation of funds from the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) while at its helm as the board chairperson. Subsequently, Morupisi was humiliated when he was charged while still the helmsman as the Permanent Secretary to the President. As the case progressed, he was slapped with three counts, two being corruption and one money laundering.
Morupisi and two others being Okaile Rapula and Tim Marsland, both directors of Capital Management Botswana (CMB), an asset manager tasked with managing BPOPF funds were alleged to have dipped their hands in the P500 million belonging to the public funds from BPOPF. All the allegations against him were alleged to have happened while he was still employed as Director of Public Service Management (DPSM), as well as PSP to the President. According to the facts of the case where he has been convicted on all charges, it is alleged that whilst employed as director of DPSM as a public officer holding a position of board chairman for BPOPF, on or about November 14 corruptly he signed a contract with CMB on behalf of BPOPF. “Without final resolution of the Board and in abuse of his public office as a chairperson of the BPOPF and whilst the business of the Board was on suspension by a court order, corruptly signed a contract with CMB on behalf of BPOPF to administer BPOPF funds as a private equity managers and in the process obtained valuable consideration for himself and his wife Pinny’s company,” reads the corruption charge.
In a separate corruption charge, he was alleged to have signed the contract while employed as PSP authorising CMB to administer BPOPF funds when business of the Board was suspended on May 15 2017 acting together with his wife in her personal capacity and as a director for her company to receive valuable consideration to buy a khakhi Toyota Land Cruiser. Morupisi was also charged and convicted for money laundering for buying a Land Cruiser for his wife’s company from the South Africa using a company called Manor Squad. On conviction, Justice Chris Gabanagae of the Gaborone High Court said the prosecution had proved its case on all the charges and now Morupisi faces the impossible. He might be looking at jail time or payment of large sums of money or both as all the counts are of serious nature