06 Feb 2017

The Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) says it is deeply perturbed by derogatory allegations published in The Telegraph newspaper dated Wednesday 1, February 2017, article titled ‘DCEC accused of purging investigators handling high profile cases.’

DCEC states that it is not in the habit of responding to media articles that discuss its operations, but due to the disparaging contents of the said article, the DCEC finds itself compelled to respond to these ‘malicious’ and very serious allegations.

The newspaper alleges that, “senior officers from the Intelligence Unit are being purged for investigating high profile cases.”

The newspaper further claims that the alleged “officers rubbed top management the wrong way after they called for reforms and queried the circumstances under which high profile cases are not prosecuted”.

The DCEC informs the public that prosecution is the sole prerogative of the director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Section 39 of the Corruption and Economic Crime Act, demands that once satisfied that there is enough evidence, the case should be referred to the DPP.

It is therefore misleading for the newspaper to state that officers have been forced to resign, suspended or redeployed to protect the interest of high ranking government officials.

“There is no dispute that there are a few DCEC officials who are on suspension,
 the fact of the matter is that none of these officers were suspended on the basis of having questioned management why certain cases are not prosecuted.

It must be stated that suspension of public officers is an internal administrative issue anchored on the remits of the Public Service Act and other regulatory instruments regulating the conduct of public officers.”

Some of the officers who are currently suspended, have committed offences outside DCEC.

The paper goes on to allege that the DCEC is accused of double standards for publishing names of small fish in the press but does not do the same thing with big fish.

“The DCEC’s standard is that once an accused person is arraigned before court, a press release is issued to all media houses.The DCEC does not categorise cases on big fish/small fish.”

The DCEC also dismisses as false allegations by the paper that there are a number of high profile cases gathering dust at the DCEC shelves.  

The length of any investigation is determined by the complexity of the matter under investigation.

Furthermore, all information regarding ongoing investigations remains primarily confidential and privileged information, says the statement.

“The paper states that an eye witness in a murder case approached the DCEC with information, it has to be noted that the DCEC has no jurisdiction over murder cases and in the event it receives such a report it will be referred to the relevant authority, being the Botswana Police Service.”

The newspaper has alleged that there is infiltration by DISS to the DCEC.

“We wish to state that it is both false and malicious to insinuate that the DISS has infiltrated the DCEC. We further wish to state that DCEC and DISS are both law enforcement agencies and contrary to what the newspaper alleges, the two institutions complement each other as and when it is necessary.” ENDS