… as court dismisses his bid to quash Victoria Hotel graft charges
Mohalenyane Phakela
FORMER Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) director general, Mahlomola Manyokole, has been dealt a heavy blow after the High Court threw out his bid to quash money laundering, abuse of office and corruption charges against him.
The charges arose from Advocate (Adv) Manyokole’s attempts to put Maseru’s Victoria hotel under curatorship whilst he was still at the helm of the DCEO.
High Court Judge, Justice Maliepollo Makhetha, this week dismissed Advocate Manyokole and his co-accused’s May 2023 application for a permanent stay of prosecution on the charges. She said their application had been overtaken by events and therefore did not pass legal muster.
Among other things, Adv Manyokole and others had complained of the delays in bringing them to trial. They cited the Crown’s failure to furnish them with indictment and witness statements on time. The “unreasonable delays” in bringing them to trial had infringed on their right to a fair trial under section 12 of the Constitution 1993, they argued.
Adv Manyokole stands accused alongside the suspended DCEO Chief Asset Recovery Litigation Officer Peter Matekane, former DCEO intern Relebohile Lesholu, Ikhetheleng Matabane (now deceased) and Matsobane Putsoa both of M Putsoa and Associates as well as Mr Matabane’s Mokorotlo Communications.
The charges stem from the Victoria Hotel saga wherein Adv Manyokole had instituted an investigation into alleged money laundering and corruption by Sobita Investments’ late owner, businessman Thabiso Tlelai, who had leased the hotel from the government since 2002.
Adv Manyokole had successfully petitioned the High Court for an order to place the hotel under curatorship. The application was granted by Justice Makara Molefi on 15 June 2020. This after he argued that the late Mr Tlelai’s Sobita Investments was unprocedurally awarded a lease to run the hotel by then Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s government and had failed to pay M60 000 in monthly rentals since 2002.
Adv Manyokole subsequently appointed a curator, M Putsoa, and Associates to run the hotel.
But in a bizarre twist, the DCEO itself charged Adv Manyokole, after he had been suspended from his post by then Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro, with money laundering, corruption and abuse of office in connection with his handling of the Victor Hotel curatorship.
Adv Manyokole and his alleged accomplices were accused, among other things, of embezzling money from Victoria Hotel to pay for expenses that had nothing to do with the curatorship. The curator they appointed had also been de-registered by the relevant body and should not have been appointed.
They were granted M3 000 bail each by the Maseru Magistrates Court in May 2021.
According to the charge sheet, the accused persons, “acting in concert and with common intention or purpose, did design, devise a scheme to appoint Matsobane Putsoa of M Putsoa and Associates, a company which, at the time of appointment had been deregistered with Lesotho Institute of Accounts (LIA) since June 2016 for non-payment of membership fees, mainly with the purpose to acquire, possess, use monies to be collected and/or already in possession of Victoria Hotel, convert or transfer such monies from M Putsoa and Associates (Curator Bonis Victoria Hotel) account into various accounts of their business associates, family and friends, with the aim of concealing and disguising the illicit origin or true nature of that property, movement or ownership of the said monies, fully knowing that was unlawful.
“Accused 1 (Matekane) being a public official and Head of the Assets Recovery Unit at DCEO, advised and/or recommended to accused 2 (Manyokole), being public official, Director General and Chief Accounting Officer of the DCEO to appoint Matsobane Putsoa of M Putsoa and Associates as curator for Hotel Victoria and they would use their official powers to execute the whole transaction and or enterprise.”
The DCEO insists that Adv Matekane and Adv Manyokole intentionally abused their offices and committed the offences of fraud and corruption when they chose M Putsoa Associates as the Victoria Hotel curator when they were fully aware that the company had been deregistered by the Lesotho Institute of Accountants in 2016 and was ineligible for that task. Another corruption charge stems from Adv Matekane’s alleged failure to disclose his interest when he participated in the appointment of Mr Putsoa with whom he is alleged to have business and personal relations.
The accused had further engaged in embezzlement and theft when they used M11 532, 47 from Victoria Hotel to pay for M Putsoa and Associates’ membership fees to the LIA to give the curating firm a new lease of life and legitimize its appointment in retrospect.
M Putsoa and Associates had committed fraud by misrepresenting itself as a company lawfully conducting business when it had been deregistered by the LIA in 2016 on account of failing to pay its membership dues.
The DCEO accuses Messers Matabane and Putsoa of corruption and money laundering when M Putsoa and Associates appointed Mokorotlo Communications to offer services to M Putsoa and Associates for a fee of M177 770.
M Putsoa and Associates had transferred M104 520 into Mokorotlo Communications “with the aim of concealing and disguising the illicit origin or true nature of that property, thus violating the section 28 (1) of the Prevention of Corruption and Economic Offences Act 1999”.
It says further amounts of M20 000; M53 250; M41 000 and M30 000 were transferred from M Putsoa and Associates to Mokorotlo Communications while another M28 500 was deposited into the personal account of Adv Lesholu between June 2020 and January 2021, “thus committing a money laundering offence”. The charge sheet does not specify the specific services that Mokorotlo purportedly rendered. It implies no services were in fact rendered and the payments were a hoax to conceal the theft of Victoria Hotel funds.
Their case was moved to the High Court in August 2021 by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Hlalefang Motinyane, where they were summarily committed for trial.
However, Adv Manyokole and his co-accused demanded the case to be totally quashed in May 2023 on grounds that they would not be afforded a fair trial.
They had been furnished with the indictment and witness statements in February 2023.
They had also accused their prosecutors; DCEO’s Mamongonyo Baasi and private lawyers, Christopher Lephuthing and Monaheng Rasekoai, of being “unfit” to prosecute the case.
Adv Manyokole claimed that, sometime in 2019, he had some squabbles with Adv Baasi which led to him suspending her from DCEO. She therefore had a “mission” to see him incarcerated.
He further alleged that he and Attorney Rasekoai and Adv Lephuthing had a fall out when the DCEO, under his superintendence, launched an investigation into the two lawyers for allegedly being “corruptly” awarded legal work by the office of the Attorney General without following proper lawful channels. The Attorney General then was Adv Haee Phoofolo KC.
Justice Makhetha dismissed Adv Manyokole and his co-accused’s application for being “academic” as they had already been given the indictment and witness statements.
“An application for permanent stay of prosecution, being such an extra ordinary remedy, is afforded an applicant only where sufficient proof is shown that the applicant has suffered trial related prejudice as a result of the delay in bringing his case to trial.
“Without getting into the merits of the case, the accused can no longer complain about prejudice relating to the conduct of a trial against them after they were served with the documentation that they needed to prepare for their defence.
“While it is the right of the accused to be given witness statements in preparation of a trial, once the Crown has complied with such requirement and in the absence of any trial related prejudice on the part of the accused persons, I do not find a justification for granting a prayer for permanent stay in favour of the accused.
“Based on the foregoing considerations and analysis, my conclusion is that this application is moot and does not pass muster in order for exceptions to the general rule to be applied,” Justice Makhetha said.
She added: “A smooth and disruption-free prosecution of this case is of vital importance to ensure its quick disposal. The next step will be to hold a Pre-Trial Planning Session (PTPS), assuming that none of the parties will proceed on appeal against this ruling.”
