MASERU-LAPTOPS, cell phones and files with crucial information on audit have been stolen following a break in at the Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC).
Energy Minister Professor Ntoi Rapapa told a press conference on Monday that there was a break in at the offices last weekend. He said eight laptops, three cell phones and some files were stolen.
Professor Rapapa said LEC Managing Director, Dr. Leketekete Ketso, got a report of the incident on Monday morning from office cleaners.
“The managing director reported the matter to the police immediately,” the minister said.
He said evidence so far showed that force was used to gain entry into other offices but the main entrance door was not broken and there were no signs of forceful entry.
“It seems as if the suspects used the sharp object to break the doors and lockers,” he said.
He refused to mention the information contained in the files and computers that were stolen, saying investigations are still in progress.
The LEC manager for customer relations, Lerato Tšosane, said that this was not the first time the offices had been broken into.
She said the first one occurred in the customer relations office in September 2018, when cash amounting to M600 was stolen.
“They could not find the money they wanted, they only found the money which was in a cash flow,” she said.
Police spokesperson, Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli, said investigations are still in progress regarding the latest incident.
No arrests have been made.
The break-in happens barely three years after an auditor, Thibello Nteso, was murdered after discovering that M170 million had been embezzled at the company. Nteso was the LEC’s head of internal audit department.
He was shot and killed allegedly by the police next to the residence of the former Commissioner of Police, Molahlehi Letsoepa, on February 6, 2017.
Four police officers facing murder charges over his death are police constables Moeketsi Dlamini, Monaheng ’Musi, Inspector Thaele Ramajoe and Superintendent Tlala Phatela.
They face an additional charge of malicious damage to property for allegedly damaging Nteso’s vehicle.
Nteso had presented to his company preliminary findings of a forensic audit showing that more than M170 million was embezzled from the LEC.
Staff Reporter
