- Owner sues for peace by giving up on the P100k debt
- Says ‘intel agents’ have finally handed his keys back
TEFO PHEAGE
A dispute over a house belonging to a well-connected Bangladeshi man, Didarul Islam Bhuiyan, which was the residential base of estranged DISS agents Temo Tau and William Mabengano under their front company, Word of Oath, has been resolved with the landlord suing for peace by forgoing the debt.
At one stage the matter reached the courts where the landlord demanded over P100 000 in rental arrears but the secret agents would not pay and hand back the keys to the house, insisting that the debt was the responsibility of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Service to settle as the house was obtained for them by the secret service.
In an interview with The Botswana Gazette, Bhuiyan said the matter is now water under the bridge. “We have closed the matter,” he confirmed. “All I wanted was my house and I have gained control of it. I have decided to give up on the debt. They do not have money to pay me.”
According to court papers, the agreed rental was P5 500 per month. The lease agreement commenced on 15 March 2019 and was to end in March this year.
Tau declined to comment on the issue, questioning this publication’s interest in it. “It is not your issue,” he retorted. “What do you want with it?”
The house also housed equipment alleged to be the property of DISS but it is not known what happened to the equipment at this point. As the controversial DISS agents stayed put in the house without paying the rental arrears, DISS also refused to pay them P15 million that they purported was for a seemingly dirty-tricks elections job.
The matter has petered out over time.