THE HUNTER BECOMES THE HUNTED

Police investigate Hubona for perjury

We already had a perjury case reported against him by Khama. With the current court ruling, our job has been made easier and the matter will now be investigated to finality.

We could do very little pending finalisation of the case - Motube

Following the acquittal and discharge of former spy Welheminah ‘Butterfly’ Maswabi, the Botswana Police Service (BPS) is set to investigate the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) investigator, Jako Hubona for perjury. Upon ending Maswabi’s two-year misery, Justice Zein Kebonang now aims his legal gun at those who were behind the investigation and prosecution. For Hubona, it was recommended that disciplinary action be taken against him by his superiors. As if that was not enough, the BPS was ordered to institute an investigation on Hubona for perjury.

According to assistant commissioner Dipheko Motube, though former president Ian Khama reported the matter in March, the case will only gain momentum soon. “We already had a perjury case reported against him by Khama. With the current court ruling, our job has been made easier and the matter will now be investigated to finality. We could do very little pending the finalisation of the case,” he said.

Earlier in March this year, Khama approached the Broadhurst Police Station to lay perjury charges against Hubona in an unprecedented move in Botswana’s legal system. In a 208-page report, Khama alleges that Hubona cooked facts and twisted issues to try and nail him. Khama is one of the persons implicated by Hubona in an affidavit he deposed on October 28, 2019 for the State in a case against Maswabi.

Now Khama, who was seeking to clear his name and reputation, wants Hubona arrested and prosecuted for charges, amongst others, perjury, following a 2020 report issued by Alaco Limited and Omnia Strategy LLP that was commissioned by one of the implicated persons, South African entrepreneur Bridgette Motsepe, to undertake an independent review of various allegations lodged against her and others in legal proceedings against ‘Butterfly’. The report details that a thorough and forensic review was conducted on the affidavit and its supporting documents which indicated that a lot of information was fabricated and that all of the critical allegations concerning Khama were false.

Khama was vindicated by Justice Kebonang who found that the investigators and the State ignored legal principles, falsified information as well as fabricated and manipulated evidence.

Any person who, in any judicial proceedings, or to institute any judicial proceedings, knowingly gives false testimony touching any matter which is material to any question then pending in those proceedings or intended to be raised in those proceedings, is guilty of the offence termed perjury. Any person who commits perjury or suborns perjury is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years.