A senior transport officer in the Department of Road Transport in Maun is facing a serious corruption case for allegedly taking a P200 bribe from a taxi driver.
The 45-year-old Keitshupile Moleleke of Thito ward in Maun who is on trial before a Maun Magistrates court is alleged to have committed the offence in December 2018.
Allegedly on the 19th of December 2018 Moleleke took a sum of P200 in the form of P100 notes from a taxi driver named Gaotlhophe Moje in exchange of his taxi documents (taxi road worthiness and passenger permits)which he had confiscated earlier.
In his testimony before court, the taxi-man alleges that Moleleke took his documents without any proper charge being laid against him.
“I followed him to his office the next day and he demanded P200 in exchange of my papers. Since I did not have the money I tried to negotiate to P50.00 and P100.00 he still refused,” testified Moje.
He said he then went to the police and District Commissioner’s office to seek assistance but to no avail and he eventually visited the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) offices and narrated his story who in turn gave him the money to trap Moleleke with.
Mmoloki Marumo from the DCEC corroborated Moje’s story and informed the court that they found Moleleke in possession of the same P100.00 notes they gave Moje.
”We made copies of the two P100 .00-pula notes and gave Moje to go collect his papers from Moleleke and we followed him to the transport offices. A few minutes later Moje walked out holding some documents and the accused followed shortly after,” Marumo revealed.
He said the DCEC officers immediately pounced on him and upon searching him they found a total of P700.00 in his back pocket, of which the serial numbers of the two P100 notes matched those given to Moje.
The defense attorney, Charles Tlagae, is however adamant that his client has never received any bribe from Moje accusing him of being a liar who is trying to falsely implicate an innocent man.
The matter continues before court.