- New information led to re-arrest of Kerekang
- 60 million Pula was disbursed before current case
SONNY SERITE
Fresh information has emerged regarding the reason behind last week’s surprise re-arrest of former Director of Department of Energy Kenneth Kerekang who is accused together with Bakang Seretse and Botho Leburu in the ongoing high-profile money laundering case.
According to sources close to the investigations, DCEC investigators have since established that prior to the currently disputed P250 million transaction that was requested by the DIS initially for the construction of strategic Petroleum Storage Facilities, the Department of Energy had previously, in 2016, instructed Kgori Capital to disburse 60 million pula from the Petroleum Levy Fundfor procurement of Government strategic oil stock, separate from the one advanced by the DIS.
Kerekang was therefore allegedly re-arrested to provide clarity on this newly-found evidence because he authorised the transaction. In fact, it is said that the initial letter of authorisation had only Kerekang’s signature but Kgori Capital refused to disburse the funds insisting that there should at least be two signatories. It was, apparently, at this point that a new letter was advanced now with signatures of Kerekang and deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Minerals. DCEC investigators are therefore said to be curious to establish where the P60 million went, given that the DIS was asking, in 2017, for money to build the same facilities that should have otherwise been built with the P60 million from 2016.
This publication has it on good authority that DCEC officials recently questioned the remaining Kgori Capital Directors on the transaction and they were able to furnish the investigators with all the information that showed they were acting on instructions from Kerekang. Kgori Directors are also said to have reiterated to the investigators that at the time, they did not know about Seretse’s association with the Department of Energy, outside the mandate of Kgori Capital. Seretse’s former co-directors at Kgori have always insisted that they only got to know about Seretse’s dealings with the department of energy, outside Kgori Capital mandate, when he was arrested late last year on charges of money laundering.
Another source close to the case said this new evidence will not be good for Seretse should he be implicated because while he derives confidence from his assertion that high profile people benefited from the P250 million funds that got him into trouble, it seems those high-profile people were not part of the transaction that Kerekang is now being questioned about. ‘‘If indeed he has proof that implicates people in higher offices as he claims, they can now choose to kill the ongoing case and leave him to face the music alone on this new one,’’ the source said.