Maseru, May 15 — The Court of Appeal has on Friday reinstated criminal proceedings against Former Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Temeki Tsólo and his co-accused.
This comes after a successful appeal by the state against a decision of the High Court in which it permanently stayed the proceedings against Tsólo, Robert Frazer and Frazer Solar (Pty) Ltd who are accused of corruption involving M855 million whereby they misrepresented that the Government of Lesotho entered into a contract with Frazer Solar.
The Court of Appeal set aside the order of the High Court and remitted the matter back to the High Court to proceed before a different judge. It directed that the High Court should apply case management to ensure expeditious hearing of the case.
The decision of the High Court to permanently stay the proceedings came under scrutiny during arguments of the appeal and among the questions raised by the Court of Appeal was whether it was competent for the court to grant a permanent stay without an application. The Court also asked if it can be a reason for a judge to grant stay because he does not want a part-heard matter.It further asked whether the decision of the High Court was a drastic overreaction.
The Court remarked that permanent stay is a serious issue adding that it has far reaching consequences on the administration of justice. It added that the accused is not the only one with rights, further adding that the community is affected, especially where issues of corruption are involved.
The Court also asked if it is good conduct on the state prosecution to not appear on a number of occasions in a case. It cautioned prosecutors against such conduct as well as contributing to delays within the criminal courts.
An order which was suggested was that the appeal be upheld, a judgment of the High Court be set aside and the case be remitted to the High Court to proceed before a different judge.
The appellant was represented by Advocate Jay Naidoo while the respondent was represented by Adv. Molefi Masoabi.
The appeal was heard by President of the Court of Appeal Professor Kananelo Mosito, Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane and Acting Justice Johann van der Westehuizen.
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