Paledi escapes Khama, Kgosi ‘curse’
Mpho Mokwape | Monday June 3, 2024 08:34
Paledi was facing three counts of aiding and abetting unlawful possession of firearms. In 2022, he found himself on the wrong side of the law and was among the prominent persons thrown into the web of high profile prosecutions. He was accused of aiding former president Ian Khama and former Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) boss Isaac Kgosi, to unlawfully acquire arms of war and ammunition certificates.
Paledi was charged alongside the above mentioned persons and also former Commissioner of Police, Keabetswe Makgophe, In a formal withdrawal notice issued by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions director, Nomsa Moatswi, she revealed that a decision has been taken to discontinue criminal proceedings against Paledi. “I Nomsa Sinki Moatswi, the Director of DPP for the Republic of Botswana do hereby stop and discontinue criminal proceedings against the accused person, Victor Bruno Paledi, in a criminal case of State vs Victor Bruno Paledi presently before the Village’s Magistrate’s Court,” read Moatswi’s formal notice of abandonment. Moatswi, who did not detail what informed her decision, mentioned that the withdrawal was in pursuance of her powers under the Constitution and Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.
Paledi, whose illustrious civil service career came to an end while still suspended from his lucrative job, was allegedly caught in the Khama, Kgosi web simply for doing an administrative work for the duo during their tenure. It was alleged that Paledi and Makgophe were just registering the guns because they had already been cleared by customs.
Despite the claims, the DIS went after them with accusations that what they did was criminal and a breach of national security to allow Khama and Kgosi to possess weapons of war. In addition to serving as deputy permanent secretary at MYSC, Paledi's illustrious career before the criminal charges, included a stint as the Director General of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC).
In 2019, he was also transferred from the DCEC to the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security as the secretary for defence, justice and security. He also rose through the ranks at the Botswana Police Service (BPS) where he attained the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police before the DCEC job.
With Paledi’s charges dropped, information shared with this publication is that more charges will be dropped against the remaining accused persons. According to an inside source, the docket for the accused persons is nowhere to be seen at the DPP, alleged to be missing. “All this charges against the accused persons were rushed without any ounce of concrete evidence. You can expect more charges to be dropped, the case is as good as dead,” claimed the source.