…says his suspension was meant to sabotage a corruption probe
MASERU – A senior investigator at the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) says he was abruptly suspended when he was about to arrest senior civil servants and individuals allegedly involved in a massive government vehicle tender scandal.
Chief investigator Thabiso Thibeli told the parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) he suspects his suspension in July was meant to kill the investigation.
Thibeli, who is challenging his suspension, had spent months investigating the case in which several people, including senior government officials, were alleged to have demanded or received bribes from people who wanted the government to hire their vehicles.
He said he was assigned the case by the then Director General Advocate Borotho Matsoso and was about to complete the investigation when his new boss, Attorney Mahlomola Manyokole, threw in the spanners by suspending him over what he describes as trumped up charges.
He told the committee that his investigations revealed that some individuals were working with senior government officials to rig system to get vehicles hired.
Thibeli named Democratic Congress (DC) MP, Likeleli Tampane, as one of the people he investigated. Tampane was Minister of Tourism in the previous government.
Thibeli also named one Teboho Tlokotsi as one of the masterminds behind the sleaze. Tlokotsi is allegedly close to Tampane, Manyokole and some government officials.
The principal secretary of Finance, Motena Tšolo, has also been fingered in the scandal, according to Thibeli. So are ’Mafusi Mosamo, a senior official in the Ministry of Finance, and one Tumo Ramonaheng who touts himself as an entrepreneur.
Thibeli said he found a list of 24 people whose vehicles were supposed to be hired under the corrupt deal. He said he discovered that those who had paid bribes had been told to park their cars near Setsoto Stadium, just next to Mejametalana airbase where government officials were receiving and inspecting the hired vehicles.
“I found out that these vehicles were brought there by Likeleli Tampane after being approached by Teboho Tlokotsi to hire those whereby some money was to be paid,” Thibeli said.
He said he discovered that some had paid as much a M40 000 in bribes to have their vehicles hired. Some had been told that they would pay M2000 per month for each hired vehicle.
Thibeli told the committee the Director of Public Prosecutions, had approved the case for prosecution.
“We informed the Director General and we were given a directive on 02 July by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) office outlining people to be prosecuted,” Thibeli said, adding that he immediately instructed his team to summon the suspects.
He said Ramonaheng came with his lawyer but Tlokotsi dropped the DCEO’s calls.
“We summoned Finance Principal Secretary Motena Tšolo and she was interrogated”. Mosamo and Tampane were also interrogated.
Thibeli said they got a warrant of arrest for Tlokotsi but he kept eluding them.
On July 18 he called Tlokotsi who promised to come to the DCEO office but he never showed up. Thibeli was instead after a while called by a lawyer who told him to stop calling Tlokotsi because he is busy.
Thibeli said Tlokotsi later came with Ramonaheng and they were read their charges.
Their fingerprints and photos were taken in preparation for their first court appearance.
He said the five suspects were supposed to appear in court on July 23 to face corruption charges but things suddenly changed as Manyokole began pilling pressure on him.
On July 18 Manyokole wrote two quick memos to Thibeli.
In the first, written at around 10 am, Monyokole instructed Thibeli to bring all files of “high profile” cases to his office.
“Kindly bring physical files and or dockets of high profile cases that are in your custody today on the 18th day of July, 2019 for my review,” Manyokole ordered.
“Take further notice that you should inform DG’s office first before you take any further enforcement measures against any individual or company.”
The second memo, written at around 3pm, ordered Thibeli to surrender fire arms and their inventory. Manyokole also demanded a list of exhibits in two cases, State vs Mabotsang Matsoso and State vs Mamello Makote. Matsoso and Makote are suspects in an M18 million fraud case and the DCEO has confiscated their assets.
The third instruction was that Thibeli should surrender an inventory of all monies in his custody. The memo gave Thibeli until 9am the next morning to submit these.
“It was an order so I agreed,” Thibeli told the committee, adding that some of the cases Manyokole demanded dated as far back as 2004.
On July 19 Manyokole gave Thibeli a “notice of intention” to suspend him “pending investigations” on four allegations. The first accusation was that some DCEO firearms disappeared in Thibeli’s custody “without justification”.
The second was that he removed some exhibits from the DCEO custody “without proper legal channels”. Manyokole also alleged that Thibeli defrauded public revenue and disobeyed his orders to submit all fire arms and inventory of exhibits to his office.
He said Manyokole said he wanted to review the cases.
He was given a weekend to respond to the allegations. On July 24 he was suspended with full benefits.
Meanwhile the suspects’ court hearing that had been scheduled for July 23 did not proceed. Thibeli remains on suspension and is now suing the DCEO to reinstate him.
He said he has a statement that says Ramonaheng and Tlokotsi were the ones who took the bribes. He said while working with Advocate Matsoso he was called by Tlokotsi who said Matsoso is fighting Liabiloe’s (the First Lady) Chinese therefore they want to change and make him director (Thibeli). “I refused and then reported to my boss,” he said.
Thibeli said one principal secretary once told him “to leave the case for Mahlomola Manyokole”.
He said on the day he was planning to call Tlokotsi and Ramonaheng his boss, Manyokole, “was very unhappy saying he has relationships with both men and he did not tell him in time”. Thibeli said he reported to the police that the dockets were taken from him.
Nkheli Liphoto
