Debswana court case could spill more beans
An ongoing court case involving Debswana and and Infotrac Pty Ltd has the potential to bare open the former’s secrets vaults. Infotrac submits that it is owed intelligence consultancy verbal contract amounting to P110 million. A security expert shares his
Aformer D ebswana Diamond Company head of security has warned that the ongoing case in which Debswana is under trial, presents serious and unprecedented security challenges to the diamond giant. It may expose many security issues unrelated to the current case in which Debswana is being sued for a breach of verbal contract over sensitive information.
Infotrac ( Proprietary) Limited, a security company, has dragged the mining giant to court to recover a debt arising from a breach of a verbal contract, entered into by themselves and Debswana representatives, for some sensitive consultancy services with costs amounting to P110 million.
Already the former Permanent Secretary to the President, Carter Morupisi, who is also the former Chairman of Debswana has told the court that the late Debswana Managing Director had previously promised to settle the matter when he enquired about it following an appeal by the plaintiff, Infotrac Director, Mompoloki Motshidi.
In an interview with this publication, a former Debswana security unit director, who preferred anonymity as he is now engaged with another institution, said, it seems Debswana is not disputing the old relationship with Infotract but the amount. “The relationship seems to be old which would mean that the client, Infotrac has more sensitive information about the diamond company, which may be revealed in court contrary to Debswana’s interests. A can of worms may be opened anytime and I am not sure whether the country is ready for what is currently happening,” he said.
He said he was shocked to see the matter going to court: “We have always handled these fragile matters meticulously and this is not the first case; there are several others which I cannot discuss with you. Our attitude has always been anchored on a win- win principle. Our greatest fear was always that in war, everything is fair, as they often say,” he continued.
Intelligence gathering and spying in the diamond space, he said, was a common occurrence.
Justifying Debswana’s questionable spy deeds, he said Debswana is a security inclined environment or company where management should always know what is happening and where. “It is by nature a security sensitive environment and all that we do is basically about our strict preventive measures. Yes, we don’t want the interventions known because that’s not how intelligence and security work. For many years, we have been blamed for a raft of human- rights abuses but that’s the nature of intelligence like
is said. It is intrusive, and to a certain degree violent to civil liberties,” he continued.
Motshidi has already revealed some intriguing details relating to his relationship with Debswana including his engagements with high profile figures, providing spying equipment and gathering intelligence information on some company employees, and companies on behalf of Debswana. More of these are expected today in court when he continues with his testimony. Motshidi told the court that as part of settling the debt, at some point Debswana had offered P10 million but only P2 million was readily available.
He rejected due to ‘ uncertainty’ of the payment terms. Motshidi said other payment options proposed by Debswana included giving future jobs to Infotrac. He explained to the court that Infotrac had a history of undertaking assignment from the mining company without any written contract and that Debswana always honoured its obligation of payment without fail.
A security expert who also preferred anonymity told this publication that this case carries profound corporate governance implications and reputational costs, not only to Debswana, but to the country as well.
“As the world’s largest diamond producer by value, Debswana is not only a strategic entity to Botswana, but to the global diamond supply chain. It’s our pivot to projecting national power. Hence, we are currently bidding to host Kimberly Process Secretariat. As such, Debswana is an obvious National Key Point that needs to be guarded jealously. As to how a ‘ due diligence’ exercise on its strategic leadership was delegated to a ‘ third party,’ as opposed to relevant national security agencies, leaves a lot to be desired. We do not know, who else this ‘ third- party’ is talking to, and that speaks volume to our national security,” he said.