DIS spills beans on DCEC
Mpho Mokwape | Monday August 21, 2023 06:00
In its response to the lawsuit, the DIS has given a detailed background of events leading to Katlholo’s lawsuit. The DIS lead investigator, Jet Mafuta takes the stage to shred Katlholo's suit to pieces.
Mafuta, who is a member of the Botswana Police Service (BPS) and seconded to the DIS as a lead investigator, gave account of the unfolding events in a deposed affidavit in which he explained the ‘true’ events. “I am a lead investigator in a matter which is being investigated by the DIS involving the former Director General (DG) of the DIS, Isaac Kgosi, the former president Ian Khama, Tshekedi Khama, Anthony Khama and Seleka Springs (Pty) Ltd,” he said. In an answering affidavit, Mafuta emphasises that he has seen the lawsuit and the founding affidavit of Katlholo and wished to give a detailed background to the events leading to the present lawsuit proceedings.
January 15, 2019
On or about this date the former DG of the DIS, Isaac Kgosi was arrested by the DIS and during the course of his arrest he uttered words to the effect that he will topple the government. Law enforcement agencies were alarmed by these utterances and subsequently a search and seizure warrant was obtained to establish whether Kgosi had the capacity to topple the government.
“A task team comprising of members of law enforcement agencies that is the BPS, DIS, DCEC and Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) was set up to execute the warrant,” he said. He explained that from the search conducted in the premises of Kgosi, several firearms and ammunition were handed over to the BPS for further investigation.
Mafuta noted that almost two years went by with nothing happening and sometime in December 2020 Kgosi filed an application with the High Court for the release of the firearms and ammunition seized at his premises in 2019. He said it was only then that the DIS took up the responsibility to investigate the matter and he was appointed the lead investigator and that it became clear during their investigations that the BPS had not taken any steps to investigate the matter following the search and seizure.
“Upon enquiry, I was informed a decision had been made by the BPS that the DCEC would conduct the investigation into possible abuse of office in line with the provisions of the Corruption and Economic Crime Act by Kgosi in respect of the acquisition, ownership and registration of the firearms with the Central Arms Registry under the BPS,” Mafuta mentioned. More on his affidavit, the lead investigator submitted that the explanation by the BPS necessitated further investigation which entailed interviewing officers of the DCEC to find out progress, if any they had made in their investigations.
December 14, 2021
To that end, on this date, a letter was written by the Acting DG of the DIS Tefo Kgotlhane to the DG of the DCEC requesting the release of the relevant officers to the investigation team for interviews. He said the officers required to be interviewed were Joao Carlos Salbany, Tsholofelo Bareetsi and Deputy DG (Operations) Priscillah Israel and that Katlholo responded by a letter dated Decemeber 15, 2021 with the exception of Israel despite the fact that the officers be released immediately. “It was not until after two days that the two officers came for interview. At no point in time was any officer of the DCEC arrested or detained,” it reads.
February 7, 2022
The DG of the DIS wrote a letter to Katlholo requesting the release of some officers for the purpose of assisting the investigators in the matter and the then Acting DG Erica Ndlovu responded by a letter dated February 8, 2022. He said up to the present day Katlholo has failed, refused and or neglected to release the officers in question with the result that the investigations have stalled.
February 16, 2022
Mafuta also disclosed that on or around this date, another letter was written to Katlholo requesting the release of officers as well as access to official information held by the DCEC relevant to the investigation which they were conducting and Katlholo responded by a letter dated February 17, 2022 effectively refusing to provide the information requested.
March 18, 2022
On or around this date, as part of the ongoing investigation, Mafuta explained that he arrested amongst others Directors of Seleka Springs being Anthony Khama and Tshekedi Khama and during the course of interviewing them it was revealed that the company was involved in the supply and installation of an Encryption solution project to the DCEC at a cost of around P5m. Mafuta wrote that it also revealed that the same solution had been further supplied to other government ministries and departments by Seleka Springs acting as an agent for the main company being Crypto AG based in Switzerland. Further investigations have revealed gross irregularities with the tender process followed as well as loss of government revenue on account of the failure of the Encryption project. It was against this background that on April 5, 2022 a letter was written to Katlholo requesting information relating to its dealings with Seleka Springs on the Encryption Solution project. He argued that the reading of the letter would clearly reveal that it does not relate to any investigation being conducted by the DCEC but rather deals with a procurement issue and Katlholo responded by a letter dated April 12, 2022. “It became clear to me that although Katlholo has provided us with the contract between the supplier and the DCEC, critical documents which form an integral part of the contract had not been provided, including payments made in respect of this project notwithstanding that same had been included in the request for information,” he said. Mafuta said no explanation was provided as to why such documents had been withheld and consequently by April 25, 2022 a request was made for the missing documentation. He mentioned that a response was provided on April 28, 2022 by the Acting DG Israel who provided them with additional information relating to the enquiry and furthermore by letter dated April 29, 2022 the then Acting DG of DCEC Israel authorised the interviewing of officers of the DCEC, being Tshepo Pilane in his capacity as the project manager of the Encryption Solution Project and Montshwari Mogapane in his capacity as the procurement and finance manager and representative of the DCEC in the contract with Crypto AG. The lead investigator said during the course of the interviews, it was revealed that information relating to Seleka Springs was in the custody of Katlholo and Bareetsi who was his staff officer and same applies to information relating to the investigation on firearms seized from Kgosi in 2019.
“It was also revealed that Katlholo was not acting on any of these files and had not assigned any of his officers to action the said files. It was further revealed that Katlholo was actually restricting the release of information to the DIS investigators,” reads the affidavit. He emphasised that on the basis of the revelations he came to the reasonable suspicion that Katlholo was deliberately stalling and obstructing investigations by the DIS into Seleka Springs and Kgosi. Mafuta said it was for that reason that he took a decision that given that Katlholo was at that particular time outside the country and that it was imperative that his office and that of his staff officer be sealed pending their return so as to protect the integrity of the evidence in their custody. He pointed out that he had been informed by Ndlovu the then Acting DG that Katlholo would only be in the office on May 9, 2022 and the only information the investigators were interested in is information related to Seleka Springs and Kgosi none of which are being investigated by the DCEC. “Myself, together with other officers of the investigation team sealed the office of the DG and that of Bareetsi on May 3, 2022 in the presence of Edwin Batsalelwang in his capacity as the Senior Assistant Director (Legal Services), Ndlovu and Israel and other officers of the DCEC who recorded the entire process undertaken during the sealing of the two offices,” he said. Mafuta further stated that Ndlovu authorised the investigation team to proceed in that manner.
April 29, and May 4, 2022
Further correspondences were authorised to the DCEC requesting information and further interviews with the listed officers with the exception of Ramokate. None of the officers requested have either appeared for interviews or any explanation given as to why they had not availed themselves. “It is evident from the foregoing that the sealing of the two offices had nothing to do with files which were being investigated by the DCEC or access to dockets but solely for investigations which were being conducted by the DIS on Seleka Springs and Kgosi,” he concluded. Meanwhile, before Katlholo’s lawsuit against the DIS, all the events Mafuta detailed led to a back and forth between the DCEC and the DIS organs and the subsequent suspension of Katlholo who was the helmsman at the anti-corruption organ. Finally, Katlholo was shown the door by President Mokgweetsi Masisi barely three months before his contract expired after placing him on suspension for a year. The President terminated his contract in May, three months before he commenced serving his official notice and his contract was supposed to officially expire in August 31, 2023.