Documents seen by Sunday Standard show that the new Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) government’s promise to restore accountability is facing one of its toughest early tests after the latest Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report reopened explosive allegations involving the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS). The allegations include contract interference, hidden business interests and repeated court defeats.
The report reveals among others, unresolved matters involving alleged DIS interference in a water project, questionable ownership and accounting of the Tautona Lodge and Farm and a growing trail of court battles launched by disgruntled staff members.
Sunday Standard understands that for a government elected on promises of transparency, accountability and rule of law, the report now places the UDC administration in the spotlight.
The documents revel that at the centre of the controversy is a case in which the DIS is accused of interfering in a water project by allegedly removing a contract from one contractor and awarding it to another.
According to the PAC, the intelligence agency confirmed the existence of the case and said investigations had been completed before the matter was referred to the DPP for prosecution.
Information reaching Sunday Standard also shows that the latest revelation instantly transforms the issue from an administrative embarrassment into a legal and political test case.
Information seen by Sunday Standard also shows that if prosecutors proceed this could mark one of the first major corruption-linked prosecutions touching the DIS under the new administration. It is understood that if nothing happens, critics will likely accuse the UDC of protecting old networks it promised to dismantle.
Reports indicate that Boko said to safeguard the rule of law, discourse on judicial independence was often framed in a binary manner, with the judiciary on one hand and the state on the other.
The matter involving DIS interference in the water project arose from a controversial instruction of the DIS for WUC to cancel its contract with the two companies that DISS considered a security threat to the country.
The two companies consequently approached the High Court for redress. Following a protracted legal battle, the parties reached a court of settlement agreement that was fulfilled when WUC paid the two companies P112 million. ‘The contract that the parties had entered into arising from the invitation to tender that was published by Water Utilities Corporation bearing reference, essentially, Design, Supply, Treatment Plant-Tender No. WUC 015 (2018) is here by terminated,’ said the then Justice Tebogo Tau of the Lobatse High Court.
‘The Respondent (Water Utilities Corporation) agrees to pay the sum of P112 000 000.00 into the Trust Account of Tengo Rubadiri Attorneys on or before 1st June 2020, in full and final settlement of all contentions between the parties relating to the Invitation to Tender that was published by the respondent bearing the reference, essentially, Design, Supply, Treatment Plant – Tender No. WUC 015 (2018).’
The PAC also reopened questions over Tautona Lodge and Farm, a property reportedly bought by the DIS using operational funds.
In one of the report’s most startling findings, legislators noted that the property was not appearing in government books of account, neither was revenue allegedly generated from hotel operations.
The committee ordered the Accountant General and DIS to meet urgently and regularise the accounting treatment of the property and all income derived from it.
PAC further requested the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) to provide updates on the status of cases linked to the DIS including the water project matter.
Ccording to the report, ‘The Committee requested the DCEC to undertake the following:
Provide an update on the status of the cases and alleged interference by the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) on a water project.’
The report also paints a picture of internal dysfunction inside the spy agency.
Lawmakers noted that aggrieved staff members had repeatedly been forced to seek justice through the courts in disputes that could have been resolved internally through the Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security (PCIS), the oversight body created under the DIS Act.
PAC observed that the DIS had lost a number of those cases.
The committee stated that the PCIS must be constituted and convened effectively to ensure accountability, transparency and adherence to the rule of law.
The timing of the report could not be more sensitive.
President Boko came to power promising institutional reform after years of criticism that Botswana’s democratic institutions had been hollowed out.
The PAC report goes beyond the DIS. It also laments slow progress across government ministries in implementing old PAC resolutions, exposing a wider culture of impunity and bureaucratic indifference.
But it is the DIS chapter that carries the greatest political danger.
For years, the intelligence agency was viewed by critics as untouchable. The PAC has now dragged it back under Parliament’s harsh lights.
According to the report; ‘The Committee expressed concern on the above and requested the Directorate of Intelligence and Security to undertake the following: the DIS should submit to the PAC an up-to-date report on the court cases lodged by its
staff and the outcomes thereof and the Tautona Lodge and farm, together with all revenue generated therein, should be captured in the government books of account according to the requirements of the
Public Financial Management Act.’