28 Jul 2020

Crimes such as corruption, money laundering and fraud are serious in nature therefore require thorough investigation.

In a recent interview, Advocate Stephen Tiroyakgosi of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said such activities involved masterminds with the ability to disguise their acts  therefore it took significant time to extract evidence that could stand in a court of law. 

“Corruption instigators, cautiously arrange their schemes as they engage in secretive criminal acts beyond inquisitive eyes. 

They secretly engage in some corrupt acts and therefore make it difficult for investigators to unravel evidence,” said Advocate Tiroyakgosi. 

He further said instigators of such crimes were also complicated. 

Advocate Tiroyakgosi said investigating corrupt acts was a difficult undertaking and therefore took longer to conclude.

However, Advocate Tiroyakgosi said the public prosecutor was committed to dealing with complex criminal acts. 

“I can assure you that we do whatever it takes to investigate thoroughly and prosecute corrupt acts in accordance with the provisions of the law. We gather enough evidence to help the adjudicators in arriving at informed judgements,” he said. 

Advocate Tiroyakgosi  acknowledged that members of the public doubted DPP was doing enough to investigate corruption and bring perpetrators to book.

It was unfortunate, he said, that the directorate’s success rate in dealing with corruption was only judged by high profile cases. 

He noted that high profile corruption cases took longer to go to court because of their complexity. 

“We are trying hard to bring them out, and therefore my appeal to members of the public is for them to be patient,” he said.

Advocate Tiroyakgosi said the National Petroleum Fund (NPF) case was a typical example where the DPP was accused of not doing enough. 

“As we speak, the case is stalling. We cannot proceed with the criminal case because accused persons are continually coming up with interim applications opposing the main case. 

For the past six to seven months the NPF case has been at halt, as the court has been dealing with intervening applications regarding conduct of the case,” said Advocate Tiroyakgosi. 

He said the case was still alive and expressed confidence in the prosecution team to deal with the matter.

“I have confidence in them, most of all, from the point of personal integrity. Their ability to prosecute is not questionable. Yes, I admit that they encounter complex and challenging issues, but they do their level best and therefore Batswana must have confidence in what they are doing,” he said.

On average, Advocate Tiroyakgosi said the DPP was prosecuting about 8 000 cases in a month with only about 200 prosecutors. 

“Our focus is not only on high profile cases that are more appealing to the people. We prosecute all sorts of cases at our disposal,” said Advocate Tiroyakgosi. 

In terms of annual performance, Advocate Tiroyakgosi said the DPP obtained around 84 per cent out of the 90 per cent target.

Advocate Tiroyakgosi decried the fact that DPP had a limited number of experienced prosecutors as most had been lost to private practice.

Members of the public must appreciate that the DPP and law enforcement agencies were guided by the law in investigating suspected criminal acts. 

An accurate investigation would ensure that the prosecution had enough evidence to justify their case in a court of law, he said.

Through the Prosecutor Guided Investigation (PGI), investigators and prosecutors were brought closer together to avoid registering cases before completion of investigations. 

Advocate Tiroyakgosi said through PGI, loopholes would be identified and further investigations carried out. Ends