Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
Isaiah Morewagae
10 July 2009
The High Court application in which Louis Nchindo,his son Garvas, and former Debswana employees Joseph Matome and Jacob Sesinyi are challenging a ruling made by then Village Chief magistrate Lot Moroka that the state ought not to provide further particularities in most of tthe charges that Nchindo and his co-accused face,will continue on Monday.
The substantive case, which was due to start on July 6 at Village Magistrate's Court was on June 26 stayed by Justice Maruping Dibotelo, who is also presiding over the current case.
Nchindo and his co-accused face 36 counts of graft. The ruling came after the suspects filed an urgent application to have the main case postponed after an order by Regional Magistrate Lot Moroka that they should take their pleas and that trial should start on July 6.
Dibotelo ruled that the suspects should not plead before he determines the review application to be heard on Monday.
Nchindo's legal team, led by advocate Peter Hodes and others from Collins and Newman law firm, will continue to argue their case in a quest to have the High Court reverse Moroka's decision. At the last court appearance, Hodes argued that the prosecution should be seen as fighting for justice, not an overall adversary of any party in a legal matter. He said this gives the state responsibility to act in good faith and assist the legal process instead of concentrating only in defending a particular side. He said the attitude of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has not been satisfactory when viewed against this standard.
He said that initially the DPP officers indicated they had furnished all the statements they had to the defence. But recently, they offloaded about 70 files to the defence. Hodes said this showed that the DPP was not forthcoming with material until the order given by the magistrate that all documents be passed on to the defence.
The advocate, who often relies on humour to drive his point home, indicated that this is similar to an ambush on the side of the DPP. He denied claims by the DPP that the defence is trying to delay the main case with the application. "We are not seeking to delay this matter. We are trying to expedite it," he said. He castigated the DPP for trying to block the defence from accessing witnesses who served as Cabinet ministers under former president Festus Mogae even though they had not gotten statements from them.
He told the court that he was surprised Moroka directed the state to amend only counts eight and nine, leaving out the rest, more especially count 29.
He said all the three counts are conspiracy charges, hence should have been treated the same.
He said that Section 10 of the Constitution dictates that an accused person should be afforded a fair hearing in the language that he or she understands and detailed information should be provided to him or her.
Hence their requirement of more information from the prosecution in the graft case. Hodes added that the section orders that an accused person should be provided with adequate facility to conduct his or her defence.
He was concerned that at the moment, the state is not availing all the information to the suspects. The case involves Nchindo, his son Louis Garvas, and former Debswana employees Joseph Matome and Jacob Sesinyi.
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