{"id":60594,"date":"2024-12-12T06:48:03","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T06:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement"},"modified":"2024-12-12T06:56:40","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T06:56:40","slug":"lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement","title":{"rendered":"LSB Cautions on Morupisi Judgement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>Justices of Appeal have sparked controversy by invoking the President\u2019s anti-corruption stance in their ruling and the sentencing of former Permanent Secretary to the President, Carter Morupisi.<\/b><\/p>\n

In their judgment, Judge President Tebogo Tau and justices Lakhvinder Singh Walia and Baaitse Nkabinde stated that failing to impose a strict sentence on Morupisi would be seen to undermine \u201cthe Honourable President\u2019s stated desire to see an end to corruption\u201d.<\/p>\n

This statement has drawn sharp criticism from lawyers and the broader public for raising concerns about judicial independence and the principle of separation of powers.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnnecessary\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chairperson of the Law Society of Botswana, Lesedi Moahi, expressed dismay over the statements, describing it as \u201cunnecessary\u201d and a potential threat to public confidence in the judiciary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe judiciary must remain impartial and independent,\u201d he said. \u201cFor judges to imply that they ruled to align with the desires of the executive branch undermines the rule of law and the principle of separation of powers.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that such statements could erode trust in the judiciary\u2019s ability to deliver fair and unbiased judgments.<\/p>\n

Moahi revealed that the newly-elected leadership of the Law Society of Botswana plans to convene soon to deliberate on the matter and chart a course of action.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis issue is serious,\u201d he said, \u201cand as a body entrusted with upholding the rule of law, we must address it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sentencing criteria<\/p>\n

In an interview, Morupisi\u2019s lawyer, Obonye Jonas, said it would be very unfortunate if the judges referenced the presidency as part of their sentencing criteria because that would amount to pandering to the whims and caprices of the executive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be very unfortunate and a very sad day for judicial independence if political statements were to influence the outcome of cases,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to believe, although it appears so, that the judges meant that the sentence was made to impress the presidency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether he thought the executive should distance itself from the statement, Jonas replied: \u201cNo, the doctrine of separation of powers is meant to ensure that each branch steers clear of interfering with the functions of the others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judiciary under scrutiny<\/p>\n

The controversy arises as the judiciary is under increasing scrutiny for independence, with legal practitioners urging judicial officers to steer clear of political undertones in their rulings.<\/p>\n

Efforts to obtain a comment from the Office of the President proved unsuccessful as Minister Moeti Mohwasa had not responded to inquiries at the time of going to press.<\/p>\n

In delivering the ruling, Justice Walia stated: \u201cThere is a dearth of law in Botswana and elsewhere in the range of punishment for corrupt practices and high-end corruption-related crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the case that comes to mind readily is Selebi supra where the Appellant, a former commissioner of police and head of Interpol, was sentenced to a term of 15 years imprisonment for corrupt practices involving sums of money sounding in millions.<\/p>\n

President\u2019s stated desire<\/p>\n

\u201cThe South African Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal and confirmed the trial court\u2019s sentence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have agonised over the sentence to be imposed on the Appellant, bearing in mind that this court would be failing in its duty and seen to be eroding public confidence in the judicial system if the Appellant were to escape with a rap on the knuckles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court would also be seen to undermine the Honourable President\u2019s stated desire to see an end to corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Court of Appeal (CoA) sentenced Morupisi, who was convicted two years ago on three counts of corruption, to seven years in prison.<\/p>\n

Too lenient<\/p>\n

The charges stemmed from his involvement in a corrupt deal involving a Toyota Land Cruiser and a P500 million contract between the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) and Capital Management Botswana (CMB).<\/p>\n

Previously, Morupisi had received a suspended sentence and was ordered to pay a P130,000 fine, but the CoA deemed the initial punishment too lenient after Morupisi appealed the ruling in an effort to clear his name.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. Justices of Appeal have sparked controversy by invoking the President\u2019s anti-corruption stance in their ruling and the sentencing of former Permanent Secretary to the President, Carter Morupisi. In their judgment, Judge President Tebogo Tau and justices Lakhvinder Singh Walia and Baaitse Nkabinde stated that failing to impose a strict sentence on Morupisi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":60593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234],"class_list":["post-60594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nLSB Cautions on Morupisi Judgement - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Justices of Appeal have sparked controversy by invoking the President\u2019s anti-corruption stance in their ruling and th ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LSB Cautions on Morupisi Judgement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Justices of Appeal have sparked controversy by invoking the President\u2019s anti-corruption stance in their ruling and th ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-12T06:48:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-12T06:56:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/12\/sm_1733973887.741129.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"LSB Cautions on Morupisi Judgement\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-12T06:48:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-12T06:56:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement\"},\"wordCount\":685,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/12\/sm_1733973887.741129.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement\",\"name\":\"LSB Cautions on Morupisi Judgement - Botswana\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/12\/sm_1733973887.741129.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-12T06:48:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-12T06:56:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Justices of Appeal have sparked controversy by invoking the President\u2019s anti-corruption stance in their ruling and th ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/12\/sm_1733973887.741129.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/12\/sm_1733973887.741129.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"LSB Cautions on Morupisi Judgement\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"LSB Cautions on Morupisi Judgement\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\",\"name\":\"Botswana\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"LSB Cautions on Morupisi Judgement - Botswana","description":"Justices of Appeal have sparked controversy by invoking the President\u2019s anti-corruption stance in their ruling and th ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"LSB Cautions on Morupisi Judgement","og_description":"Justices of Appeal have sparked controversy by invoking the President\u2019s anti-corruption stance in their ruling and th ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement","og_site_name":"Botswana","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2024-12-12T06:48:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-12T06:56:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/12\/sm_1733973887.741129.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"LSB Cautions on Morupisi Judgement","datePublished":"2024-12-12T06:48:03+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-12T06:56:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement"},"wordCount":685,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/12\/sm_1733973887.741129.jpg","keywords":["Botswana"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement","name":"LSB Cautions on Morupisi Judgement - Botswana","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/12\/sm_1733973887.741129.jpg","datePublished":"2024-12-12T06:48:03+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-12T06:56:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Justices of Appeal have sparked controversy by invoking the President\u2019s anti-corruption stance in their ruling and th ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/12\/sm_1733973887.741129.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/12\/sm_1733973887.741129.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"LSB Cautions on Morupisi Judgement"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/lsb-cautions-on-morupisi-judgement#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"LSB Cautions on Morupisi Judgement"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/","name":"Botswana","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}