DPP, ministers fight over Nchindo

Staff Writer | Friday April 9, 2010 00:00

 

Two cabinet ministers, Ndelu Seretse, Phandu Skelemani and BDP chairman and former minister, Daniel Kwelagobe, have submitted affidavits in an application to the High Court saying Nchindo did nothing wrong at Nchindo and Gloconda Properties and that the state has no interest in the ongoing criminal case.

Ironically, first to depose to an affidavit was the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Ndelu Seretse, under whose portfolio the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP)falls. This has elicited a ferocious reaction from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, which fell short of calling the ministers busybodies who want to defeat the ends of justice. 'Some time after assuming the office of Minister of Lands and housing, it did come to my attention that Tourism Development Consortium (TDC) had applied for and had been granted plot 55720. TDC had thereafter successfully applied for the conversion of the land to mixed use and also for the sub-division thereof.

'In my capacity as aforesaid, I was called to intervene when the question of payment of purchase price relating to the above was raised by my officers. I then caused an investigation into the land allocation to TDC. A file of pertinent documents was accordingly compiled for, and scrutinised by me,' swears minister Seretse in his affidavit.Although the DPP, an organ under his ministry, is pursuing Nchindo and others for corruption, fraud and committing an offence against the state in the process of acquiring the plot, Seretse says in the affidavit that after he studied the documents pertaining to the acquisition of the land, he found that there was nothing irregular and that no wrong had been done against the government.  'My conclusion was that the allocation of land to TDC raised no concerns from the government's perspective. I was accordingly prepared to let the development of the land proceed,' says minister Seretse in his affidavit.Seretse's affidavit has put him on a collision course with his officers at DPP who see everything wrong with his conduct. In a replying affidavit, chief prosecution counsel, Kgosietsile Ngakaagae, takes no prisoners when addressing the minister's affidavit. 'It is unsurprising, though somewhat disappointing, that the said minister has now deposed to an affidavit giving, or tending to give credence to the defendant's title over plot 55720, Gaborone.

'It is further disappointing that he finds what the DPP considers to be a case of extreme criminality, to be a matter of no concern to the government,' intoned Ngakaagae. Ngakaagae further alleges that the political leadership, particularly minister Ndelu Seretse, is being used to prevail upon government departments to grant clearance to alienate and develop the property, while the DPP is still seized with the criminal case. In his affidavit, Ngakaagae says he wishes minister Seretse could take the witness box to explain his opinion that he found nothing wrong with how the plot was acquired.'Minister Seretse's opinion would be an administrative one and not a legal opinion on whether or not serious crimes were committed and benefits were derived by the defendants.

'Were it to be concluded that his was a legal appraisal of evidence, then clearly, it would not be for him to tell the court whether or not a crime was committed as that would be a matter falling outside his mandate,' said Ngakaage, adding that opinion evidence is only admissible from experts. The affidavits of Kwelagobe and Skelemani are essentially the same. The purpose of the affidavits is to confirm that they attended a cabinet meeting on January 22, 2002 at which Nchindo is alleged to have given false information to members of cabinet so that they should support the allocation of plot 55720 to TDC.

The evidence of both Kwelagobe and Skelemani is that Nchindo was not present at the presentations and that cabinet never agreed to the allocation of plot 55720 to TDC, nor was cabinet ever asked for its support. 'At the outset, I note that Louis Goodwill Nchindo was not present at the aforementioned cabinet meeting on January 22, 2002 and he was not involved in any presentation to the cabinet on that day. Joseph Matome was indeed, present on that occasion and participated, together with other Debswana officials, in a presentation with regard to Debswana's vision of tourism development in various locations in Botswana,' Kwelagobe and Skelemani say in their separate affidavits. Although DPP officials have in previous court sessions stated that they had difficulties accessing ministers to get statements from them, Kwelagobe and Skelemani contend that they have never been approached by the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC), the Police or DPP officials to enquire about what happened at the cabinet meeting. The two submit that because Nchindo did not attend the cabinet presentations and that cabinet was not asked to support the TDC application, neither Nchindo nor Matome are guilty of the charges they have been slapped with relating to deceiving cabinet. This, too, invited a sharp rebuke from Ngakaagae who says he finds it 'unbelievable' that minister Skelemani and former minister Kwelagobe could say this despite all the evidence that shows that the two deceived cabinet. Ngakaagae says it is inconsequential whether or not Nchindo attended the presentations.

The prosecutor reserved the acerbic observation for minister Skelemani. 'It is not a requirement of our law that one should be at the scene of a crime for criminality to be imputed upon him. Minister Skelemani, being a lawyer, former attorney general, and a person formerly in charge of prosecutions in the country, should know that all too well. For him or any person to say that he was not involved in the presentation would be untruthful on account of the fact that such would be a matter outside their knowledge. It cannot be held otherwise, without concluding that they have been misdirected as they would not know all the people involved in the preparation of the slide presentation before it was brought to cabinet,' argues Ngakaagae.

Despite the contention of the two ministers Seretse Skelemani, and Kwelagobe, the prosecution maintains that it has evidence from former president, Festus Mogae, to the effect that he had been deceived in supporting Nchindo's application to acquire plot 55720.  In yet another affidavit, the officer who made the transfer states that had she known that the documents submitted to her were not genuine, she would not have prepared the title deed transferring plot 55720 to Tourism Development Consortium.

The case is before Judge Walia.