(MENAFN- The Post) A Maseru magistrate, Nthabiseng Moopisa, this week stayed the criminal prosecution of Advocate 'Mamosa Mohlabula who is accused of tax evasion, money laundering and corruption.
In her application Advocate Mohlabula, who is the director of Women and Law in Southern Africa (WILSA), said the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) should not charge her pending finalisation of her tax evasion case.
Advocate Mohlabula is out on bail after she was formally charged with tax evasion in July last year.
She told Magistrate Moopisa that the DPP, Advocate Hlalefang Motinyane, was wrong to have agreed with the Director General of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) to bring charges against her.
“In my viewpoint, the DCEO cannot be heard to charge me in relation to matters already seized with this Honourable Court,” she said in an affidavit.
She also said there is a pending civil case in the High Court in which the DCEO's abuse of power is referenced, saying the precise way the case is handled will depend“on the way an alleged offence comes to the light”.
“Before that pending case is finalised, DCEO has no jurisdiction to detail me to court over isolated phenomenon of tax evasion and or over grievances of former employees of WILSA,” she said.
Advocate Mohlabula was charged together with the WILSA's chief accounting officer.
She argued that it was WILSA that was being investigated, not individuals, further saying that was“a significant safeguard that the DCEO was impartial from an objective viewpoint”.
“To exclude any legitimate doubt in this respect the DCEO returned the items it seized from WILSA,” she said.
“This was a realistic and practical step towards administering justice and to avoid premature embarrassment to the management of WILSA.”
She said the Board of Trustees of WILSA were sent briefing notes which in certain respects reflected that the DCEO returned the properties of WILSA without warning them that they were suspects.
“In any event, we proceeded to fashion our arguments before the High Court. There was, and could be, no evidence to back up the decision of the DCEO to apply for the search warrant,” she said.
Advocate Mohlabula said before they took the matter to the High Court, she cooperated with the DCEO and it conducted an inquiry into the alleged crimes.
“Now that the matter is pending before the High Court, there is no more reason for the DCEO to remand me before the pending cases are finalised,” she said.
Staff Reporter
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