The Director, of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Leonard Sechele has fueled speculation that Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS) boss Isaac Kgosi may never get his day in court. Sechele, who worked under Kgosi as legal advisor to the DISS told The Botswana Gazette that there is no reason for people to get excited about Kgosi’s alleged multiple corruption offences because there is no guarantee that he will be prosecuted. “I do not know why everyone seem so excited about this Kgosi thing…they should wait until it goes to court if indeed the matter ever goes to court,” Sechele said.
Sechele further declined to respond to the question of whether he was conflicted and as such unable to prosecute Kgosi as he had worked under him when he was DISS legal adviser “This is my life, you like knowing things that are not for you to know,” he said.
He added that he could not understand the fascination with the case saying it can only be a matter of public interest if it was before the courts.
A source at DPP recently told The Botswana Gazette that Kgosi was likely never going to get prosecuted as all three people who should handle the prosecution were conflicted. Sechele’s Deputy Kabo Leinaeng is said to be Kgosi’s acquaintance and neighbour at Phakalane Estate while the only other senior official eligible to handle a case of this magnitude, Ambrose Mubikwa is an expatriate. Other than intelligence work and regulation of the security sector, DISS also vets expatriates seeking employment in Botswana. The possibility that Kgosi might not get prosecuted surprised a local lawyer who said should it not come to pass then those who have speculated that Sechele’s appointment to DPP might have been meant to subvert efforts to prosecute Kgosi would be proven right.
Meanwhile The Botswana Gazette gathered DCEC investigations show contradictions between the spy chief and his attorneys. It is alleged that attorney Parks Tafa told investigators that when he opened a trust account with Collins and Newman law firm, Kgosi told them that he was opening it to receive certain monies from Israeli secret service, Mossad. He had told them that Mossad wanted to buy his Sentlhane farm for its agents who would then use it every 3 months.
Kgosi’s alleged account however is that he got the money from the late Louis Nchindo as a gift. Kgosi could face among others the offences “obtaining by false pretences”, failing to explain satisfactorily how he maintains a standard of living disproportionate with his known sources of income or assets, theft, money laundering and abuse of office.
Tafa refused to comment saying how will not talk about issues of trust accounts while attempts to interview Kgosi were futile as his phone rang unanswered the whole day.