Nat Molomo
MASERU — The trial of four senior police officers and three others who are being charged for corruption was on Friday transferred to the High Court.
The seven had come for a routine remand at the Maseru Magistrate’s Court when the prosecutor told the court that the Director of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) had transferred their case to the High Court.
Assistant Police Commissioners Dlamini Mphatšoane, Officer Thakane Theko, Inspector Habofanoe Lepheane and Deputy Commissioner of Police Tumelo Moseme are facing charges of corruption, fraud, bribery, theft by false pretense and obstructing the course of justice.
They are charged together with local businesswoman Rebecca Makhalemele whose companies — Linare Clothing and New Vision Suppliers — are alleged to have been the conduits through which the alleged crimes were committed.
Also charged are Phethang Mpota and Sekoala Motsoasele who are alleged to have used their positions at Boliba Savings and Credit, a co-operative bank, to facilitate the alleged crimes.
Advocate Sefako Seema, the prosecutor, did not give reasons why the case was moved to the High Court.
Under normal circumstances a trial is moved to the High Court when it is considered too serious or the magistrate’s court has no jurisdiction to preside over it.
A case can also be transferred to the High Court when it is high profile.
Seema said the seven suspects will be summoned by the High Court once the DPP has finalised their indictment.
The decision to move the case to the High Court came shortly after the magistrate, Molemo Monethi, threatened to lock up Mpota and Motsoasele for coming to court late.
“I will lock them up if they don’t abide by the remand dates. This is a great inconvenience to the court,” Monethi said.
The seven were nabbed by the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) in March following an investigation that lasted for more than six months.
They are accused of conniving to rig tenders for the supply of the police’s new uniforms for the special operations unit which is headed by Mphatšoane.
By the time they were caught, the state alleges, the accused had rigged tenders worth hundreds of thousands of maloti.
The police officers had pocketed M125 000 in bribes from Makhalemele, the state claims.
It is alleged that the sleaze started in 2009 when a new type of uniform for the special operations unit was introduced.
Mphatšoane was chairman of the police’s tender evaluation team and a member of the Commissioner’s Advisory Board.
Makhalemele allegedly prepared three quotations using the names of CSM Suppliers (Pty) Ltd, Smarttech (Pty) Ltd and Pearl Imperial Suppliers (Pty) Ltd for the tender to supply 44 sets of uniforms.
It is alleged that the directors of the three companies had not authorised anybody to submit their quotations to the police’s procurement unit.
Makhalemele allegedly ordered her secretary “to submit the three quotations specifically to (Mphatšoane) and no one else”.
After receiving the quotations Mphatšoane and Theko allegedly prepared a requisition and submitted it to the police’s procurement unit together with the quotations under the misrepresentation that Pearl Imperial had won the tender.
An amount of M98 340 was paid into Pearl Imperial’s account at Boliba Savings and Credit for the supply of 44 sets of uniforms, the state alleges.
Makhalemele then allegedly connived with Mpota, the Boliba Savings and Credit branch manager, and Sekoala Motsoasele, the general manager, to divert the payment from Pearl Imperial’s account to New Vision Suppliers, a company she owns.
In November 2009, Mphatšoane allegedly made an application for a selective tendering for the procurement of another batch of 360 sets of uniform.
The application cited Makhalemele’s New Vision Suppliers and Linare Clothing together with Pearl Imperial Suppliers and CSM Suppliers.
However, the Public Procurement Advisory Division (PPAD) rejected the application and ordered an open tender.
“During the open tender as ordered, (Mphatšoane) acted as the chairperson of the evaluation team with (Theko and Moseme) as members while (Lepheane) was the secretary,” the charge sheet says.
“This open tender saw New Vision as the winner and Linare Clothing as the second best.”
It is also alleged that New Vision received a quotation for 400 combat jackets from GEOBO C&D, a company based in Korea, on April 19 last year before any need was identified by the police for the procurement of any combat jackets.
On July 6 last year, before any invitation was made to suppliers or any tender notice was issued, Mphatšoane allegedly issued a letter confirming to Boliba Savings and Credit that New Vision had won the tender to supply the police with 400 combat jackets. This was despite the fact that the tender had not yet been awarded.
The state alleges that Makhalemele was paying bribes to the police officers.
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