Court grants DCEC permission to prosecute Seretse and co
The Gaborone Regional Magistrate Mareledi Dipate has given the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crimes (DCEC) Deputy Director General Thabo Malambane a green light to prosecute Bakang Seretse and two others for criminal negligence.
The two other accused persons are Sharifa Noor and Alphonse Molalu-Ndzinge and companies Kgori Capital and Kgori Holdings.
The three accused persons are facing over 60 charges that include two counts of stealing by agent, money laundering, forgery of an official document, and conspiracy to commit fraud.
The DCEC alleges that in May 2017, the accused persons, being agents of the Botswana government entrusted with custody of money under the Botswana Petroleum Fund (BPF), fraudulently converted the sum of P15.6 million to the use of Kgori Holdings without the consent of the government.
In the second charge, the DCEC alleges that a sum of P15.6 million was transferred to Kgori Holdings without the consent of the government, therefore committing the offence of stealing.
For the count of forgery, the trio allegedly made an official false document addressed to Kgori Capital to make payment of P31.3 million to Kgori Holdings as a fee for the development of the Revenue Collection and Reporting System, purporting it to be a genuine document.
According to the DCEC, the fourth count alleges that in October 2018 the trio worked to conspire with other persons to defraud the government of P4 million by presenting an invoice dated March 29, 2017, to the Department of Energy, purporting that services in the sum of P31.3 million had been rendered, in which the Revenue Collection and Reporting System was allegedly procured, with intent to cause prejudice to the government.
The remaining charges, estimated to be over 55 charges, are related to money laundering, in which money was moved from Kgori Holdings to various bank accounts.
Seretse, who was previously represented by the now Director of Public Prosecutions, Kgosietsile Ngakaagae, is represented by Onalethata Kambai, while Unoda Mack represents Kgori Capital and Noor.
The third accused person, Ndzinge, is represented by Quintan Maduwane.
The trio had made an application to the magistrate challenging the lawfulness of the DPP’s gesture to delegate the DCEC to prosecute them.
Immediately after the ruling, the prosecution called for the charges to be read to the accused persons, but the defence called for an adjournment to map the way forward.
The matter resumes on August 20, 2026, whilst the bail for the accused persons has been extended.
