- DCEO seeks arrest warrants
- Amid bad faith accusations
Moorosi Tsiane
THE M280 million fraud and money laundering case involving collapsed micro-lender, Platinum Credit, has taken a new twist with the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) seeking arrest warrants against the company’s international investors while negotiating to have their two alleged local accomplices off the hook.
The two local Platinum Credit officials – managing director Motena Lishea and her husband, Tšenase Tšenase, who were arrested last month on charges of money laundering, theft, fraud, and corruption, involving the M280 million were back in court yesterday.
They were however remanded to 21 November 2024 by Senior Resident Magistrate Peter Murenzi after he was asked to give the DCEO more time to conclude its consultations with them.
“My Lord, certain representations have been made before the DCEO by Platinum Credit, which will require a little more time. We request that the matter be remanded further to November 21, 2024, by which time a final decision on the indictment of the accused persons would have been made,” South African Advocate Jay Naidoo, who is representing the DCEO, submitted before Senior Magistrate Murenzi.
An authoritative source told the Lesotho Times yesterday that the consultations referred to by Advocate Naidoo related to the DCEO’s plans to turn Lishea and Tšenase into state witnesses while aiming its guns at their foreign partners, the directors and officers of Platcorp Holdings Limited, the international conglomerate that invested M280 million into Platinum Credit.
If that happens, it will confirm Lesotho Times reports that the arrests of Lishea and Tšenase were all a ruse to advance an elaborate scheme to prejudice Platcorp Holdings Limited of its large investment and have the money filter into private pockets under the guise that it was being forfeited to the State. Lishea and Tšenase stand accused of masterminding that nefarious scheme.
They were entrusted with managing the M280 million investment since 2020 by Platcorp after the signing of deferred share transfer agreements. Lishea and Tšenase however subsequently established a scheme to deprive Platcorp of its investment and seize Platinum Credit for themselves.
Platcorp had subsequently fought and won the right to get its investment back after High Court judge Moroke Mokhesi found in the international company’s favour.
Just when Platcorp’s lawyers, Webber Newdigate, were about to transfer the first batch of the M280 million back to Platcorp’s South African division, the DCEO, which had for long sat on the case, since acquiring orders freezing Platinum Credit’s accounts, ironically at the behest of Platcorp 18 months earlier, sprung to action, and sought another order halting the transfer of the money back to Platcorp.
It then accused the directors and officers of Platcorp of having laundered the money into Lesotho in the first place. The anti-graft body is now seeking to have the money forfeited to the state completely. Platcorp however is aghast and shocked by this turn of events.
Instead of getting its investment protected, it now finds it strange that the same investment, which had created 200 jobs, is now being considered as “proceeds of crime”. Platcorp is a conglomerate with a good reputation across six African markets.
Still the officers of Platcorp had been ready to come to Lesotho to state their case and vindicate their investment as fully legitimate. Their lawyers, Webber Newdigate, had sought to have the terms and conditions of their arrival in the country clarified and agreed upon first. These included the bail amounts and the sureties they had to post so that they come fully prepared.
As foreigners, they are not ordinarily subject to the laws of Lesotho and required to be served with charge sheets first so they can be said to be formally before court to justify their arrival. Moreso, because their efforts to take control of their investment had been frustrated and they remain foreigners. If they came unprepared, they feared not being able to meet any onerous bail conditions the courts could suddenly impose on them. That would create the specter of them being caused to languish in jail for a prolonged period.
In light of the orchestrated plan to deprive them of their investment and the huge sum involved, they also feared being harmed upon arrival in Lesotho unless the terms of their arrival were clearly agreed upon in advance. Previous instances in which foreigners have come to Lesotho on bail terms agreed prior to their arrivals, only to be arrested on other unrelated charges had also worried the Platcorp officers.
Available evidence show that Webber Newdigate had vigorously engaged the DCEO for an agreement on the terms of their arrival in Lesotho, including bail and surety stipulations, to enable them to be at court yesterday.
However, despite promises the DCEO never reverted back to Webber Newdigate. Fearing for their lives the Platcorp officers did not turn up yesterday. There was also no need for them to appear since they are not formally before court after the DCEO’s failure to serve them with the charge sheets.
The DCEO thus proceeded to apply for their arrest warrants yesterday. Webber Newdigate nonetheless insists that their clients have not been served with charge sheets and are therefore not formally before court. The issue of the arrest warrants thus does not even arise.
Magistrate Murenzi postponed the warrants issue to tomorrow. If the case proceeds, Webber Newdigate is expected to fiercely argue against the issuing of the arrest warrants on various legal fronts.
In the meanwhile, Lishea and Tšenase will be negotiating with the DCEO to become state witnesses against their investors.
“There have been negotiations that Motena and Tšenase become state witnesses if they agree to terms with the DCEO,” one source told the Lesotho Times.
The DCEO lawyer, Adv Naidoo, had thus requested the court to postpone the matter to 21 November 2024, to allow the parties time to conclude negotiations.
Adv Naidoo had then moved to apply for the arrest warrants against Platcorp’s foreign officers.
“My Lord, we seek leave to approach Your Lordship in chambers with an ex parte application to obtain a warrant of arrest for Fourie, De La Rey, De La Harpe, Barrett, and Sievwright,” he said.
Adv Setlojoane, representing both Lishea and Tšenase, confirmed Adv Naidoo’s submissions, stating that the request was by consent.
“I confirm what my learned colleague has presented before the court. It was by consent, and there are ongoing discussions between the parties, with 21 November as the agreed date. We are pleased that steps are being taken to ensure the arrest of the accused who are not present, as they are delaying the case,” Adv Setlojoane said.
Magistrate Murenzi then postponed the Lishea/Tsenase matter to November 21, 2024, while adjourning the arrest warrants issue to tomorrow.
Sources insist to the Lesotho Times that the plot to prejudice Platcorp of its investment is gathering momentum and even though the fears of the conglomerate’s officers to land in Lesotho without prior arrangements with the DCEO were legitimate, they were falling into an elaborate trap to deprive them of their money.
“It is very clear, that the DCEO does not even want them (Platcorp officers) to come here. If they don’t come, and they are branded fugitives from justice, it just makes it so much easier to have their money seized with Lishea and Tsenase being used as state witnesses against them……,” said a source in the know.
“After all, Lishea is claiming she was just used as a front with all decisions being made by Platcorp’s representative in Lesotho.
“If I were these guys (Platcorp), I would call the DCEO’s bluff, come to court to defend my investment rather than play into their trap. Yes I can be jailed for a few days or so….But it is a price worth paying for M280 million…This figure is not pocket change. It’s a huge amount. It needs to be fought for….Generally, Lesotho courts are generous with bail….I don’t see why they should fear to come and defend their money.”
It remains to be seen what happens after Mr Murenzi has ruled on the arrest warrants.
In its submissions in court yesterday, the DCEO claimed Platcorp had flouted the law while putting millions in Platinum Credit. It suspects this was part of a scheme to bring in “dirty money” into Lesotho to “clean it” before taking it back. But Platcorp insists the allegations have no basis or scintilla of truth.
The movement of all its investment money is traceable with all the proper documentation required across different banking jurisdictions in place. The DCEO had never bothered to seriously engage with Platcorp to establish its bonafides.
The anti-graft body had been acting in bad faith in ignoring Webber Newdigate’s efforts to agree on appropriate terms for the investors’ court appearance.
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