Hopolang Mokhopi
THREE Queen ’Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH) employees have been charged with defrauding the government hospital of close to M1 million.
The hospital’s payroll manager, finance officer and human resource officer appeared before the Maseru Magistrate’s Court yesterday, alongside four other individuals accused of conspiring with them to defraud QMMH.
They appeared before Senior Resident Magistrate Thamae Thamae, who formally charged them with fraud.
The three hospital employees are Patlo Khoalenyane, Rabele Nchochoba and Mapili Ramahamole.
They are accused alongside Mamathe Khoalenyane, Lerato Monyalotsa, Masekoati Mabaso, and Keketso Lekatsa.
According to the charge sheet, Khoalenyane was responsible for preparing the payroll for QMMH employees as well as staff at auxiliary clinics.
He would prepare and send out dummy payrolls to respective departments and auxiliary clinics for review by responsible officers, who after review, would send them back to him for verification.
After verification, he would forward the payroll to the finance office to initiate the process of salaries and allowances payment.
Nchochoba, as finance officer, was responsible for assessing the payroll and initiating payments of salaries and allowances.
Ramahamole, the human resource officer, was responsible for reviewing the dummy payroll sent to him by Khoalenyane for Qoaling Filter Clinic, which is one of QMMH’s auxiliary clinics.
The trio allegedly connived and inserted their co-accused into QMMH’s payroll system as if they were employees of the auxiliary clinics. As a result, QMMH suffered financial losses estimated at more than one million maloti.
The charge sheet further states:
“. . . the said accused persons are charged with money laundering, in that upon or about the period beginning October 2023 to April 2025 and at or near QMMH in the district of Maseru, the said accused did each or both or all of them acting in concert and furtherance of a common purpose, unlawfully and intentionally acquire, possess or use property, convert or transfer property with the aim of concealing or disguising the illicit origin of that property or of enabling any person involved in the commission of an offence to evade the legal consequences thereof, or conceal or disguise the true nature, origin, location, disposition, movement or ownership of the property, knowing or having reason to believe that such property is derived directly or indirectly from acts or omissions that constitute a serious crime in Lesotho.”
Count II: The accused are further charged with fraud, “in that between October 2023 and April 2025, and at or near QMMH in the district of Maseru, they unlawfully and intentionally made false representations or concealed material facts from the Ministry of Finance and its employees, despite being under a legal duty to disclose them. Specifically, they misrepresented the QMMH payroll as genuine and authentic when they knew it was not, intending for the Ministry of Finance to act on it to its detriment, which resulted in losses of more than M1 million”.
Alternatively to Count II: The accused are charged with aggravated theft, “in that during the same period, acting in concert and furtherance of a common purpose, they unlawfully and intentionally stole funds belonging to the Government of Lesotho, Ministry of Finance, estimated at more than M1 million”.
The accused persons were all represented by Advocate Rasekoai Thoahlane, who applied for their release on M2000 bail each.
Adv Thoahlane argued that the accused are all residents of Lesotho, have families and minor children to look after, and are gainfully employed in the country. He stressed that they support their dependents through their salaries and were therefore unlikely to abscond.
“They have known about the charges since June 2025 and have on numerous occasions been ordered to report to the police, which they did,” Adv Thoahlane said.
He further explained that they were ordered to appear before court, and they complied, noting that they had cooperated fully with the police throughout investigations.
Crown Counsel Keketso Motiki said she did not oppose the bail application but urged the court to impose strict conditions, given the seriousness of the offence.
“The court should also consider the seriousness of the sentence in the event of conviction, which may induce them to abscond,” she said.
Magistrate Thamae ruled that the accused were entitled to bail, noting that no circumstances existed to legally hinder their admission. He therefore released them on M2000 bail each, with conditions that they do not interfere with Crown witnesses, that they attend all remands, and that they stand trial to finality.
The accused are scheduled to reappear before the same court on 2 September 2025.
