NPF case stalls as Seretse appeals DCEC authority ruling
Proceedings in the Magistrate’s Court have stalled following businessman, Bakang Seretse’s appeal against a ruling that dismissed his objections regarding the prosecution authority of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime.
The case appeared before Regional Magistrate Mareledi Dipate on Thursday, who confirmed that the matter would not proceed pending the outcome of the appeal.
Seretse is challenging the delegated authority that permitted DCEC deputy director, Mr Thabo Malambane to lead the prosecution against him. In his original ruling, Magistrate Dipate found in favour of the state, holding that the delegation conformed to the Constitution.
Meanwhile, Mr Malambane informed the court that the third accused person, Mr Alphonse Molamu-Ndzinge, had served the prosecution on Wednesday with papers applying for a separation of trial.
State prosecutor, Malambane noted that his team had not yet had sufficient time to study the application and requested at least 14 court days to review the documents and file a formal reply.
Seretse and his co-accused in the National Petroleum Fund (NPF) case, Ms Sharifa Noor, Mr Molamu-Ndzinge, Kgori Capital and Kgori Holdings, face 63 charges, which include two counts of stealing by a public agent, forgery of an official document, conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering.
The accused persons are alleged to have fraudulently converted a sum of P15.6 million to the use of Kgori Holdings on or about May 29, 2017, in or near Gaborone. The money belonged to the National Petroleum Fund (NPF) and was entrusted to them as government agents, constituting theft without government’s consent.
On the second count, they are accused of stealing an additional P15.6 million by converting it to Kgori Holdings under identical circumstances.
On the forgery charge, the state alleges that the accused created a false official document addressed to Kgori Capital. The document directed a payment of P31.3 million to Kgori Holdings as a fee for the development of the Revenue Collection and Reporting System, purporting it to be genuine.
Regarding the fourth count, the accused are alleged to have acted in concert on or about October 18, 2018, conspiring unlawfully and fraudulently with unknown persons to defraud government of P4 million. They allegedly did so by presenting an invoice dated March 29, 2017, to the Department of Energy, claiming that services worth P31.3 million had been rendered for the procurement of the Revenue Collection and Reporting System.
The remaining charges relate to money laundering involving transactions made from Kgori Holdings into various bank accounts.
The case will be mentioned on September 24 for a status update.