The Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) on Friday took the Sunday Standard to court for the second time in two weeks in an attempt to stop publication of a story about one of DISS biggest suppliers. The DCEC of Friday filed an urgent application to have the name of the businessman added to the list of witnesses in the court order who cannot be named or quoted verbatim by the Sunday Standard.
This was after the Sunday Standard had sent a questionnaire to the businessman, who has already made a statement to the DCEC about his dealings with DISS. The businessman who has a number of companies listed as DISS preferred suppliers was not listed in the initial list of witnesses listed in the court order barring the Sunday Standard from quoting them verbatim and naming them in news stories related to the investigation against Kgosi.
Among the issues raised by the Sunday Standard were discrepancies between the money quoted in invoices for services rendered to the DISS and the payments made to his companies by DISS through the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). Investigations revealed that the businessman whose contracts ran into tens of millions of pula was only paid part of the money through the EFT while the balance of the invoice could not be traced and had no paper trail. DISS insiders told Sunday Standard that the millions of Pula in the businessman’s invoice which were not paid through the (EFT) were cash payments drawn from the DISS Cash Special Fund.
Spy agency insiders told Sunday Standard that payments from the Cash Special Fund opened the door to bribery in that money could change hands between DISS officers and suppliers without leaving an incriminating trail. Sunday Standard can reveal that another DISS supplier who cannot be named because he is listed in the court order was stopped from depositing P200 000 in cash by a local bank until DISS intervened and explained the origin of the suspicious cash deposit.
