Israeli demand P118m for botched DIS deal
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday August 17, 2018 18:00
The deal was financed from the P230 million the intelligence agency diverted from the National Petroleum Fund (NPF) last year.
The Israeli firm argues it delivered on its end of the bargain and is tired of waiting for issues in Botswana to be resolved while its balance is pending.
The DIS, through Khulaco, paid Dignia Systems $11.2 million on November 9, 2017 and the latter had delivered most of the military equipment the DIS had bought through the contract. According to documents seen by Mmegi, Dignia vice president, Mordechi Barashi wrote that the firm by November last year had already delivered weapons and VIP Training in Israel and that a team from Dignia came to Botswana several times for site survey. “We were still assembling the UAVs… Dignia has already made deliveries on the contract such as weapons (pistols, rifles, machine guns, ammunitions, VIP training in Israel, site survey for special force and a team of Dignia company came several times to do screening.
This includes testing personnel, teaching personnel that will go to Israel. End war certificate was made to meet the requirements of the Israeil MOD,” Barashi said in a statement written to the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC).
The statement by the company to the DCEC also confirms that they had been in talks with the former director general of the DIS, Isaac Kgosi over three years.
Barachi said he was the one who signed the contract in Israel on November 9, 2017 and it came already prepared. Mmegi has learnt that Dignia Systems never tendered for the work in 2017.
It also became evident that an invoice from Dignia Systems was sent to Khulaco even before the contract was signed. Mmegi has learnt that the balance of the payment was frozen before it could reach Dignia Systems.
Businessperson Bakang Seretse, Botho Leburu and Kenneth Kerekang are facing money-laundering charges in relation to this contract.
The government has received the equipment yet Seretse and his co-accused remained charged.
Sources close to this contract say there was never an emergency when the deal was sealed as Kgosi took advantage of the allocation to complete the deal he has been working on it for over three years. In his correspondences, he never copied to the ministry relevant to security, sources revealed.
Magosi suspends Kgosi deal
The Director General of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS), Peter Magosi has suspended a contract for the acquisition of security equipment and surveillance platform with associated training. His predecessor Isaac Kgosi signed the deal with Israeli company, Dignia Systems.
Sources say Magosi wrote to the vice president of the company, Mordechi Barashi of Dignia Systems this week telling him that DIS cannot continue with the contract because the way it was entered into was irregular and did not conform to standard government procurement procedures.
Magosi said continuing with the contract might be interpreted as accepting of irregularities that are associated with it. He also feared that if they continue with the contract, they might be cited for contempt of a court order.
The High Court has issued a restraint order against the funds associated with the particular contract. He also cautioned the company to stop further delivery of goods in transit.