‘Mantšali Phakoana
Former principal secretary (PS) Lefu Manyokole, the Disaster Management Authority (DMA) acting chief executive officer, ‘Makhotso Mahosi, and flamboyant businessman Pitso Ntsukunyane – popularly known as Biker-boy – have appeared before the Maseru Magistrate Court facing charges of corruption.
The three were dragged to court by the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) on Wednesday this week. Mahosi and Manyokole were accused of conniving to fraudulently award a M4 538 900.14 tender to Ntsukunyane’s LL Construction company to build a bridge in Seboche, Botha-Bothe, in November 2021.
The trio were jailed on Wednesday afternoon after failing to pay M10 000 bail each by the time the accounts section at the court had closed.
According to the charge sheet read to the three accused by Magistrate ‘Mamorojele Qoo, Manyokole was then PS at the ministry of local government and chieftainship when then prime minister Moeketsi Majoro declared a state of emergency in February 2021 following heavy floods that destroyed the country’s road infrastructure.
Thereafter, the National Disaster Relief Task Force was established and tasked with providing logistics to handle the project. The team compiled a report showing the roads and bridges that needed rehabilitation, the extent of their damage and the cost implications.
As the chief accounting officer for the DMA, Mahosi was responsible for processing payments to the contracted companies, the majority of which were reportedly engaged without following tender procedures.
“At all material times relevant to these charges, the accused persons, acting in concert and sharing a common intention or purpose, did design, device an unlawful enterprise or scheme of corruption and money-laundering to appoint LL Construction to construct a bridge at Seboche in Botha-Bothe, mainly with the purpose to acquire, possess, use monies claimed from the government of Lesotho though the roads rehabilitation project, with the aim of concealing and disguising the illicit origin or true nature of the said monies and or properties,” reads the charge-sheet.
Manyokole and Mahosi allegedly committed the offences between October and November 2022 at or near DMA offices in Maseru.
“Upon on or about November 21, 2022 at or near the DMA offices in Maseru, the accused (Mahosi) did make a false representation or concealed from another fact which in the circumstances she had a duty to reveal, with the intention that such a person should act upon the said representation to his or her detriment, by representing to the DMA officers that LL Construction was engaged to offer construction works at Seboche, whereas at the time of the representation, the accused persons knew or ought to have known that LL Construction was engaged unilaterally by her (Mahosi) and without compliance with due procurement procedures and as a result, the government of Lesotho suffered prejudice to the amount of M4 538 900.14. Thus, the accused persons committed the offence of fraud,” the charge sheet further reads.
The accused were ordered to appear for remand on August 29, 2023.
