The Director-General’s decision to revive the disputed P100 billion claim, while the government is still battling a P83 million legal bill, now casts the DIS chief as a serious liability to President Boko’s administration.BONGANI MALUNGA
Director General of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DIS), Peter Magosi, has reopened the controversial P100 billion saga, insisting that investigations into the alleged missing funds are still active despite government and prosecutorial positions that appeared to have closed the matter.
Magosi told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday that the DIS was actively tracing the money and had already established the whereabouts of some of the funds, suggesting that the intelligence agency’s investigation remains alive and could potentially produce fresh revelations.
His testimony places the DIS at odds with previous pronouncements by senior government officials, including President Duma Boko, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Bank of Botswana and positions advanced before the courts over the disputed funds.
Financial experts say the renewed claims could complicate Botswana’s efforts to draw a line under a costly chapter that the government had sought to close.
REOPENING A CLOSED SAGA
The government has spent considerable resources addressing the financial and legal fallout from the Bridgette Motsepe-Radebe case, with efforts to resolve the matter continuing to this day.
The state is currently battling a legal bill of about P83 million owed to Motsepe-Radebe, while Attorney General Dick Bayford previously told the PAC that government was focused on challenging the hefty bill. He also revealed that the state was struggling to meet the costs associated with publishing a court-ordered apology to Motsepe-Radebe in international media platforms.
Boko is on record criticising the case, saying the “Butterfly” matter became an existential threat to the country. “How did we come to accuse a young Motswana of financing terrorism? Which terrorist organisation was referred to that she was alleged to have financed? Investor confidence plummeted during that period,” he said.
The DPP had also sought to distance itself from the P100 billion allegations. Appearing before the PAC in June, DPP Director Kgosietsile Ngakaagae dismissed the case as a non-starter.
FRESH UNCERTAINTY
However, Magosi’s testimony has now thrown that position into fresh uncertainty. Defending the DIS investigation, Magosi told the committee: “What I can assure you is that, the facts are there, funds are gone. We are tracing them. Dealing with money laundering is not an easy case, it takes time.”
Pressed by the PAC to confirm whether the funds allegedly missing were indeed in the region of P100 billion, Magosi said “it could be less, it could be more”.