Court denies NPF accused appeal
The Gaborone High Court has denied accused persons in the ongoing National Petroleum Fund (NPF) case an appeal to the Court of Appeal (CoA). Justice Godfrey Radijeng on Monday dismissed an application filed by the accused persons in which they sought leave to appeal to the CoA in relation to an application for the forfeiture of assets.
They had wanted to appeal an interlocutory order that was granted to Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) by the High Court ruling that it had jurisdiction to entertain the forfeiture application when it was brought outside the statutory period of 28 days.
In his ruling, Radijeng said the order sought to be appealed was a procedural point raised in the interim and that its determination was not dispositive of the issues between the parties therefore it was not appealable. “I find also that the order complained about was properly reached and would not justify for granting of leave to appeal,” he said.
The judge explained that there was a rule nisi before the order that was extended to allow the contents of the order to be extended and that is why he was not persuaded by the applicants’ contention.
He further said the arithmetic calculation should in context commence from the date of extension. “The effect of an extension of a rule nisi is to extend the contents of the order and I am not persuaded that the applicants’ contention holds merit, it is my finding that the arithmetic calculation should in context commence from the date of extension,” he said.
The applicants, amongst them Bakang Seretse, the Kebonang brothers, Zein and Sadique, Kenneth Kerekang, and recent addition, former Directorate of Intelligence and Security Service chief, Isaac Kgosi had filed the application arguing that the court had no business entertaining the DPP’s forfeiture application brought outside the statutory period. Their main grounds were that the court had no authority to entertain the application in the absence of such leave and its act in so doing and overruling their objection was in violation of express terms statute. That the reasoning of the court on why it confirmed that the application was properly before it was in error in that the extension was not all for purposes of bringing an application, they contended. The accused asked to be granted leave to appeal to the CoA, proceedings to be stayed pending the determination of the appeal and for the respondents to pay the cost of the application in an event they oppose.
Meanwhile, the application for forfeiture of assets is part of the ongoing P250 million NPF case where DPP is pushing to get more assets from the accused persons. Ernest Mosate represents the State while Kgosiitsile Ngakagae represents some of the accused persons.