MASERU — The principal secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Mohale Sekoto, was found dead in his office yesterday morning.
Police confirmed the incident and said a 9mm gun and a bullet shell were found next to his body at around 10am.
“The police received a report that the PS was found dead in his office around 10am.
“When they got there they found that he had sustained a wound on his head,” police spokesperson Masupha Masupha said.
He however could not confirm if the death was a suicide saying “investigations are going on to find out how he died and if the gun was licensed.”
Sekoto, 56, from Peka in Leribe district, had appeared before parliament’s public accounts committee on Tuesday to answer charges of misappropriating funds in his ministry. As PS, Sekoto was the ministry’s chief accounting officer and was responsible for its finances.
Parliament’s public accounts committee chairman, Moeketse Malebo, told the Lesotho Times that Sekoto was again supposed to appear before the committee for further questioning yesterday.
But he failed to turn up, he said.
“The questioning had started the previous day (Tuesday) and he was supposed to come back for further questioning,” Malebo said. Officers in the agriculture ministry declined to comment on the incident and referred all questions to the ministry’s human resources director, only identified as Ndumo.
“But he is out of the office right now attending meetings on this matter,” said one officer who refused to be identified.
The Lesotho Times understands that the public accounts committee was questioning Sekoto about some loopholes that had been unearthed in the ministry’s accounts.
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