Wanted Kipoi Is A PI In Botswana
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Monday November 2, 2020 16:43
Kipoi, a wanted man in his native Uganda to face treason charges, is held in custody by Botswana Police Service for re-entering Botswana while a PI and obtaining by false pretences.
It is said that Kipoi, who recently filed a suit at the High Court against the State for unlawful detention and possible repatriation to Uganda, was deported back in 2005 after being declared a PI.
Later in August 2009, Botswana police charged him for swindling a client of P82,000 while pretending to be a traditional healer.
He was arraigned before Extension II Magistrate Kamogelo Mmesi and charged with the two counts on Friday.
With his lawyer Joram Matomela applying that he be granted bail, the State opposed the application on the basis that the accused is a flight risk.
The State has also questioned the authenticity of his waiver to stay in the country, which he says was granted by the Department of Immigration.
When motivating for the bail denial, investigating officer detective constable Tebogo Calvin Tsenene said Kipoi is not a candidate for bail because he might flee the country.
Tsenene said preliminary investigations show the accused has three passports and has obtained a waiver to stay in Botswana while his travel documents indicate that at the time he was not in the country.
“According to his documents, the accused entered Botswana through the Tlokweng Border on February 9, 2020 and exited on March 9, 2020. His waiver was issued in August or September. But the Border Control shows he was not in Botswana,” Tsenene argued.
The police are still struggling to establish how Kipoi re-entered Botswana after leaving the country on March 9.
When being crossed examined as to how Kipoi was allowed entry into the country while he has PI status, Tsenene said he is still awaiting a summary from immigration, which could tell the court if their system could not pick if someone is a prohibited immigrant or not.
“When he was first deported in 2005 after he was declared a prohibited immigrant he was a Ugandan citizen, but when he presented himself at the border, he is now a South African citizen,” Tsenene added.
The police officer further told the court that he has written to South African and Ugandan embassies to seek more information in relation to Kipoi’s passports.
He stated that while there is no evidence suggesting that the waiver is invalid, it remains questionable.
Magistrate Mmesi agreed with the State that they need more time to investigate the matter and set the next mention date for November 13, 2020.