. . . as DPS Makoetje is grilled, fingerprinted by DCEO
’Marafaele Mohloboli
THE Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) has grilled, fingerprinted and taken pictures of Local Government Deputy Principal Secretary Ntai Makoetje as a corruption probe of former deputy premier Mothetjoa Metsing gathers steam.
This is according to Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) spokesperson Teboho Sekata, who also told the Sunday Express the fingerprints and photographs were taken as part of preparations for the instituting of fraud and corruption charges over the awarding of a M120 million road construction tender.
Mr Sekata said Mr Makoetje was summoned to the DCEO last Wednesday and later taken to a Maseru police station to have his fingerprints and pictures taken.
Mr Metsing, who is also LCD leader, was also grilled by the DCEO earlier this month over suspicious deposits that were made into his accounts three years ago.
The investigation was launched in light of allegations there had been suspicious deposits into Mr Metsing’s bank accounts between 2013 and 2014. Mr Metsing allegedly received M328 000 and M118 000 between April 2013 and June 2013. A deposit of M524 964 into his account was also not explained.
This was after the controversial allocation of a road tender to a company known as Big Bravo Construction Company for the construction of roads in the Ha-Matala and Ha-Leqele villages of Maseru.
Big Bravo Construction was engaged for the upgrading of Matala Phase One and Matala to Ha Leqele Bus Stop roads in 2014.
The company is alleged to have won the tender at Mr Metsing’s instigation and the company left road works incomplete about two months before their contract ended in 2015.
The company was awarded the M120 million tender to upgrade the roads in what competitors said could have been a fraudulent process.
The alleged dubious deposits into Mr Metsing’s bank accounts happened at a time when Mr Metsing was Local Government minister and deputy prime minister in the tripartite coalition government led by Prime Minister Thomas Thabane in 2014.
DCEO investigations revealed that Mr Metsing had appointed Mr Makoetje as his delegate on the evaluation and adjudication panel, which assessed tenders. The probe also revealed the fact that the initial evaluation report had been revised to favour Big Bravo Construction Company.
However, Mr Metsing has argued that the investigation was a ploy to tarnish his reputation by his political enemies.
Mr Sekata claimed in the interview with this publication that Mr Makoetje had been urged to “incriminate” Mr Metsing during his interrogation by the DCEO.
“We are not surprised that Makoetje was called in, and we already know that the charges will be levelled against him, (Big Bravo Managing Director) Bothata Mahlala, his business partner, Mofolo and our leader Ntate Metsing. However, we are ready for anything that will come our way,” he said.
“We know that Ntate Makoetje appeared before the DCEO at 2.30pm and later his fingerprints and photos were taken at a police station to prepare for the instituting of formal charges. This would be followed by a review of the matter by the Director of Public Prosecutions.”
Mr Sekata further claimed Mr Metsing was being “persecuted” by the government for speaking out against Dr Thabane. The LCD spokesperson said Mr Metsing had criticised the premier for encouraging the police to assault suspects when no one was looking during a rally in Masianokeng last month.
“Our leader’s biggest sin was confronting the prime minister,” Mr Sekata said.
However, Dr Thabane’s Press Attaché, Thabo Thakalekoala, has since hit back at Mr Metsing and other opposition officials, saying they misrepresented the premier’s statements for politicking ends.
Mr Thakalekoala stressed that the remarks had been misconstrued, adding that the premier had urged police to be more vigorous in their law-enforcement duties to restore law and order in Lesotho.
Mr Makoetje refused to confirm or deny being interrogated by the DCEO when contacted by this publication, saying: “I am not ready to say anything pertaining to that matter. I don’t want to talk about this issue.”
For her part, DCEO spokesperson ’Matlhokomelo Senoko said: “The matter is highly confidential and we won’t comment lest we jeopardise the investigations.”