Seretse seeking withdrawal of corruption charges
Isaiah Morewagae | Thursday February 27, 2014 15:47
Seretse, who is also the Botswana Democratic Party parliamentary candidate for Mmopane/Lentsweletau, his party colleague and businessman Paul Paledi and Botswana Telecommunications Corporation project manager Bernt Astrom were charged with corruption on November 2012. They have not pleaded to the charges.
Justice Tshepo Motswagole of Lobatse High Court is scheduled to make a ruling tomorrow on whether or not the material provided by the prosecution to the defence is enough to conduct their case.
A reliable source close to Seretse has revealed that if the court rules against the state he is going to apply for the charges to be withdrawn. “If the court is not satisfied with the furnishing of witness statements, then the defence will make application for the charges to be withdrawn,” said the source
Seretse’s lawyer Thabiso Tafila confirmed that they would be appearing before Motswagole for the ruling.
The accused are charged with corruption, contrary to Section 31 (1) of the Corruption and Economic Crime Act. It is alleged that on February 14, 2008 in Gaborone, whilst employed as BTC chief executive officer, Seretse proposed to deal with Serala (Pty) Ltd., a company owned by Paledi, without disclosing his interest in the company.
Seretse allegedly participated in the proceedings of the BTC board relating to the awarding of Tender No. BTC/Mob/DLR003/2008-09 to Serala (Pty) Ltd. It is alleged that between March 5 and 8, 2008 in Gaborone, whilst CEO of BTC Seretse abused his authority and ordered the recruitment of eight employees of BTC to render their services to Serala, whilst they were still under the employ of the parastatal.
Paledi faces a charge of giving false information to a person employed in the public service. It is alleged that on February 25, 2008, Paledi gave false information to Cecil Masiga in his capacity as the evaluation team leader employed by the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services, relating to the eight BTC employees and Serala (Pty) Ltd.
The state argues that the false information given to Masiga caused him to issue a selective invitation to tender to Serala (Pty) Ltd. Further it caused the company to be evaluated for provision of project management services for the implementation of Underserved Area Telecommunication (Nteletsa 2).
Astrom faces a charge of abuse of office. The state alleges that between March 5 and 8, 2008, Astrom assumed the position of project manager in Serala (Pty) Ltd. whilst still employed by BTC as a project manager, an act prejudicial to the rights and interests of BTC. The state is expected to call 44 witnesses against the accused.