Lawyers acting for the Director of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Stephen Tiroyakgosi, have put up a spirited defence to protect his integrity amid fresh attack on his credibility to portray him as a dishonest lawyer.
His image was left in ‘tatters’ following a scathing judgement by High Court Justice Zein Kebonang in the P100 billion Bank of Botswana case.
Tiroyakgosi had a fresh rude awakening before the Court of Appeal last week Friday when his integrity was called into question.
Lawyers from Collins Chilisa Consultants who were roped in to represent the prosecution in its appeal against a High Court Judgement that set aside corruption and money laundering charges against Capital Management Botswana (CMB) former Directors went to the DPP Directors’ defence to parry fresh legal attacks from CMB lawyers.
Liquidated CMB lawyers led by Gabriel Kanjabanga last Friday did not have kind words for Tiroyakgosi. Kanjabanga who was in element on the day also went to the extent of asking Court of Appeal’s Justice Isaac Lesetedi to ensure that Tiroyakgosi is ‘punished’ by paying costs of the judgement in his personal capacity should the Court rule in favour of Kanjabanga’s clients.
But Lesetedi sought to know if Tiroyakgosi did not bring the appeal application in his capacity as Director of prosecutions, to which Kanjabanga conceded and abandoned his earlier argument that Tiroyakgosi be ‘punished.’
Kanjabanga’s main gripe, he told the court earlier on, was that the DPP Director approached the Court of Appeal seeking an order to stay execution of the High Court judgement on the basis that one of the former directors of CMB, Tim Marsland could use it to fight his extradition application by Botswana and also ‘defend the ends of justice,” among them being granted bail.
Kanjabanga said the DPP knew that Marsland was granted bail on 13 August long before Justice Tshweneyagae delivered his judgement. He said the DPP did not disclose to the Court of Appeal that Marsland was out on bail and therefore should be ‘punished for misleading the Court.”
“They (DPP) withheld that information from the Court. That was the basis upon which the stay (of execution of the High Court judgement) was sought. That basis is false because Marsland is not in custody. If he is out on bail the reason for them wanting to stay the order of the High Court does not exist,” argued Kanjabanga. Therefore Kanjabanga, accused Tiroyakgosi of an attempt to mislead the court by claiming that Marsland was in custody adding that the decision by the DPP to appeal the High Court judgement should be based “on material facts.”
But Tiroyakgosi’s lawyer, Mboki Chilisa of Collins and Consultants did not take kindly to Kanjabanga’s accusations as he sprang to his feet and poured scorn on the defence lawyer’s claims that the DPP Director’s integrity was questionable.
In a spirited defence of his client, Chilisa said Tiroyakgosi was not South Africa’s Department of Correctional Services suggesting that he would not know the exact date on which Marsland was granted bail.
“The 3rd of September 2021 was the date Mr. Marsland was released. At the time that the DPP drafted his affidavit, he would not have known. To attack his integrity is unjustified,” argued Chilisa. He said the reason why the DPP sought a stay of the execution of the High Court Judgement was that it could be used by Marsland to defeat the extradition appeal by Botswana Government.
Recently, Tiroyakgosi’s image took a beating when Justice Kebonang recommended in his judgement of the alleged P100 billion money case when he recommended that President Mokgweetsi Masisi should relieve him of his duties as evidence in the case was falsified under his watch.
