Friday, February 7, 2025

Sebina brothers close links to Isaac Kgosi get them in hot water

Information emerging from court records suggests a long raging war over control of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) between the new and old guard is far from over.

In a supplementary affidavit, DIS Director General Peter Magosi states that investigations into the alleged illicit dealings between former DIS Director General Isaac Kgosi and Kegone Sebina and Tshepo Sebina have been delayed because Kgosi had been out of the country for quite some time.

This emerges from a subpoena application in which Kegone Sebina who is the Managing Director of Estate Construction, approached the court demanding among others that Magosi provide any documents that link him and his brother to Kgosi. But Magosi insists that it is too early to do so because investigations are still ongoing.

“…As a result of the founded reasonable suspicion, the Respondents (DIS) seized the properties pending full investigations. Investigations have been partly hampered by the absence of Isaac Seabelo Kgosi who has been out of the country for several months,” states Magosi.

The Sebina brothers have questioned the legality of the warrant that saw their properties being seized. Magosi said there was no contravention of any court rules in obtaining the order as it was legally obtained.

“Such warrant of entry, search and seizure was granted on the basis that millions of Pula are believed to have been siphoned out of DIS coffers around the time when Isaac Seabelo Kgosi, herein referred as “Kgosi” was its Director General,” Magosi said.

He added that “Therefore, I needed to know where the money went to, who the beneficiaries were and what was being funded by the money and for what purpose. I needed to have access to the above individuals premises and or properties connected to their names and businesses.”

According to Magosi “There was reasonable suspicion that the information seized from the Applicants (Sebina brothers) was also potentially prejudicial to the security of the country hence the application for the warrant.” he said.

Magosi said due to the complexity of the matter, investigations have not yet been completed which explains why the properties have not yet been returned. It is understood that the state also want a court order to access the bank accounts of the Sebina brothers.

They also sought to know why the order was granted in their absence.

Magosi said “The order was granted ex parte (granted on the request of and for the benefit of one party only) as there was fear that if Applicants had been notified of the Respondents’ intention this would have defeated the whole object of the application as Applicants would have removed some or all of the properties and this would have prejudiced the investigations.”

Furthermore, Magosi said, disclosure of material facts and notice to the other party would have prejudiced DIS and allowed Sebina brothers to remove or destroy property that would have been subject of seizure.

“There was no anomaly in the granting of the order ex parte as affording the other party notice would have prejudiced the Respondent as the property would have been removed and or destroyed,” he said.

According to Magosi, by authority of Section 22 as read with Section 3 of the Intelligence and Security Service Act, he is empowered to, where he believes, on reasonable grounds that a warrant is required to enable my office to investigate any threat to national security or to perform any of its functions under the Intelligence and Securities Act, to apply to a senior magistrate or a judge of the High Court for a search warrant.

“I reiterate the contents of the paragraph 11.8 of my founding affidavit in the Application for a warrant wherein I stated that the Applicants are believed to be owners of companies that are associates of Isaac Seabelo Kgosi, the former Director or General of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services,” he said.

Magosi further stated: “The Respondents (Sebina brothers) aver that investigations have not yet been completed and the prejudice to national security involved outweighs the prejudice that the Applicants will suffer.”

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