DCEC found nothing against me—Kgosi
Mpho Mokwape | Monday April 24, 2023 06:00
The former spy chief in his notice of motion filed this week before court an application seeking his property back that was seized by the State on behalf of the DCEC in July 2019.
He says the corruption-busting organ has never ceased investigations against him though in 2014 its deputy director, Gaofenngwe Wasetso admitted to him that they found nothing against him.
“My written statement of September 1, 2014, was given to Wasetso, the then deputy director-general of the DCEC. A week later, I received a call from him to say, DCEC had completed its investigations and found nothing,” he said.
Kgosi pointed out that it was during that phone call that he knew the DCEC found nothing against him but they never ceased to subject him to investigations which started way back in 2011 and are ongoing.
He explained that the investigations at the time of the order were not pending and had been ongoing since 2011 as admitted by DCEC’s chief anti-corruption officer, Ngadzi Matshameko “even though he sought to opportunistically and rather dishonestly attribute the delays in their investigations to me”.
The former spy agency leader said he has now approached court because it hass been three years and that he has never rushed to court to have the order discharged as he wanted to give the investigators ample time to investigate. “This is because I was confident that I would be cleared of any wrongdoing. Having said this, this does not mean, however, that I consent to unending investigations which are clearly meant to prejudice me and are not being conducted in good faith,” he said.
During investigations, Kgosi says his relationship with former DCEC director-general, Rose Seretse has never been the same after refusing to implicate people in crimes they did not commit.
The former DIS chief says Seretse went on to accuse him of interference during investigations simply because he refused to implicate people in crimes they did not commit. “My relationship with Seretse deteriorated more out of me refusing to implicate people in crimes. There was evidence that she was involved in leaking the contents of the files that she handled in abuse of her office. She had sought me to implicate Samson Moyo Guma in money laundering activities, I flatly refused,” he said.
Kgosi explained that Seretse lied during her investigations even writing a savingram on March 12, 2012, to the then Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security complaining about interference and made a generally bold and unsubstantiated claim about being harassed by her officers and requested protection. He noted that all the startling allegations made by Seretse later turned out to be false in order to justify her request for protection and other DCEC officers. “I sent a savingram to Seretse in response to her savingram and I only not denied the contents of hers but proceeded to reassure her of our commitment to assist her in the investigations she was conducting. The allegations that the investigations were being compromised by myself or agents of the DIS are thus false,” Kgosi said.
Kgosi stated that he was never evasive in his dealings with the DCEC or its officials. During an application by the State for the restraining of his property, Kgosi says the former Directorate of Public Prosecutions director, Stephen Tiroyakgosi’s deposed affidavit acted in bad faith and was motivated by an ulterior motive. He explained that Tiroyakgosi’s affidavit did not make out any case that was within his knowledge and the matter he sought to support was at best hearsay. Kgosi said Matshameko was never candid with the court on matters relating to his investigations. He said Matshameko deliberately omitted to inform the court that he (Kgosi) has always cooperated with investigations and also sought to portray a picture of stalled investigations owing to some interference with the investigations by Kgosi or DIS agents when he knew it was false and imagined. “In his affidavit, Matshameko makes reference to a letter by then DCEC DG Seretse in which he expressed concern over interference with investigations, intimidation and surveillance of the DCEC officers. He does not attach the letter, the contents of which are hearsay to him,” Kgosi submitted. He pointed out that Matshameko’s averments were not only false and disingenuous but were made with the sole purpose of misleading the court into granting the order of restraining his property.