MASERU — Motsotuoa Ntaote, the former deputy police commissioner convicted of fraud, will sleep well this week.
That’s because he is not going to jail despite having been convicted of defrauding the government of M12 387.
Acting High Court Judge Gabriel Mofolo this week handed Ntaote a wholly suspended sentence of six months imprisonment or M12 000 fine for fraud he committed in 2005.
The past three years have been hectic for Ntaote who was once a rising star in the police force.
His troubles started in 2007 when he was charged with two counts of fraud related to inflated per diem claims.
In the first count Ntaote was accused of soliciting and obtaining a M12 387.44 per-diem when he and other police officers attended the Southern African Regional Police Co-operation Chiefs Organisation’s Games in South Africa in September 2005.
The prosecution alleged that he and other police officers in his entourage were only entitled to a quarter of the per diem rate.
In the second count the prosecution said Ntaote misrepresented to the treasury department that he and other two police officers were entitled to M6 022.34 each when they went for a Macro Surveillance meeting in South Africa in December 2006.
The prosecution claimed Ntaote was not entitled to that much.
Last year Justice Mofolo acquitted Ntaote on both counts after claiming the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and that there seemed to be clandestine manoeuvres in the police to destroy Ntaote’s blossoming career.
Unhappy, the prosecution approached the Court of Appeal to review the verdict.
The Court of Appeal found that Justice Mofolo had erred when he acquitted Ntaote on the first count of fraud.
It proceeded to convict him.
The court however concurred with the High Court ruling that he was not guilty on the second count.
His case was sent back to Justice Mofolo for sentencing.
On Tuesday, Justice Mofolo said he did not believe that Ntaote’s crime was motivated by greed because he had used some of the money to help the officers who were participating in the regional police chief’s games tournament in South Africa.
Justice Mofolo made the statement after state prosecutor Advocate Gareth Leppan had submitted that Ntaote had been driven by greed when he made the inflated per diem claims.
“I don’t see how the accused was influenced by greed when some of the money was used for the benefit of the participants,” Justice Mofolo said.
“The accused is fined M12 000 or six months in prison. The sentence is wholly suspended on condition that the accused does not commit a similar offence within a period of three years. ”
Ntaote’s lawyer, Advocate Zwelakhe Mda, had argued that since his conviction his client had resigned from his position as deputy police commissioner because he was remorseful.
Clad in a cream blazer and sitting next to his lawyer, Ntaote did not show any emotion as Justice Mofolo handed the judgment.
