Spy agent Butterfly wants state to pay her costs
Mpho Mokwape | Monday April 6, 2020 07:39
The 46-year-old Butterfly, who is charged with financing terrorism by moving money around linked to former spy chief, Isaac Kgosi, says it is the right thing for the state to do since the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) launched criminal charges against her despite the fact that they did not find evidence against her in all charges she is facing.
Maswabi appeared before judge Michael Mothobi of the Gaborone High Court last week making submissions on why the state ought to pay her costs explaining that she has on many occasions in her applications submitted evidence that the state failed to challenge or prove as false.
“It is clear from the afore-going that no evidence has been placed before court, which implicates me against all the charges,” she said.
According to her lawyer Uyapo Ndadi it has emanated from the DPP’s papers that they knowingly concealed evidence in an attempt to portray his client as high end and extremely dangerous criminal.
He pointed out that DPP knowingly withheld crucial information and went to the extent of manufacturing evidence to incriminate his client.
“They pursued and coined a narrative to falsely implicate and incriminate her. It is quite evident that the DPP proceeded in bad faith and high handedness particularly looking at the seriousness of the nature of the charges laid against my client,” he submitted.
However, the state is opposing the payment of costs on the grounds that the allegations in the form of experts sourced from South Africa that Maswabi presented before court to discredit the DPP evidence would be found wanting by the trial court.
In its papers the state lawyer Omphemetse Makale said it appeared that Maswabi seemed to suggest to court that the act on their part not to address the allegations in her affidavit is a reason enough to attract punishment by paying her costs.
“We submit that this is the wrong approach and since the applicant has failed to demonstrate any conduct on our part, which may be regarded by this court as being high handed conduct amounting to bad faith to warrant the award of costs against us. We want the application dismissed as it has no merit,” he said.
Maswabi who is on long suspension is also accused of having the sum of $390m in her personal account and having five different passports she used to travel across the world of which one is a diplomatic pass and that she has not surrendered to the police.
She is charged because she was reportedly the signatory to the accounts that were used to transfer money, some of which was in the sum of P48 million.
The state also accused her of being in an intimate relationship with former DIS chief Kgosi and that they had discussions of moving the money around during their alleged escapades.