President Mokgweetsi Masisi has finally fired the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) Director-General (DG) Tymon Katlholo barely three months before his contract expires after placing him on suspension for a year.

The President terminated Katlholo’s contract in May just a few days before he commenced serving his official notice. Katlholo’s contract will officially expire on August 31, 2023.

Katlholo confirmed the developments to Mmegi in a telephone interview, saying that he is now going back to his private practice.

“It is true that I’m leaving. I received a letter on May 24 informing me that my contract has been terminated with immediate effect and that I would be paid the remainder of my contract. Technically, my contract was up as I had to serve notice but the letter effected the end of my tenure at the DCEC,” he said.

Katlholo was brought back to the helm of the graft-busting agency in 2020 on a three-year contract after Joseph Mathambo was unceremoniously chucked out and returned to the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) army barracks.

However, Katlholo was placed on an indefinite suspension last year following his fallout with his boss.

It is said that the fallout was a result of his bitter battle with the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) Director-General, Peter Magosi, over administrative issues within the former’s purview. Magosi is one of Masisi’s trusted high-ranking officials within the government enclave. It is alleged that Katlholo had defied the DIS, refusing to hand over files that Magosi and his team demanded from him. He contended that the DIS had allegedly been trying to access DCEC investigation files, which ostensibly involved some of the spies.

Katlholo also claimed that some of their, “investigations have so far revealed that some DIS officers have received bribes or valuable consideration to show favour or allowed their conduct to be influenced by gifts.”

The DIS has been accused of interfering in tender proceedings/ decisions in some projects under the pretext of national security threat investigations in a way to mask the solicitation of bribes in the said projects. Katlholo also noted that the DCEC’s investigations have shown that the security (DIS) operatives own assets that are not in line with their known sources of income.

Before his ill-fated tenure, Katlholo had a distinguished career in fighting fraud and corruption in the country. The experienced investigator had even vowed when he took over the DG position that “no one is going to tell me who to investigate, how to investigate and when to investigate”.

Meanwhile, Katlholo said he would allow his cases before the courts to proceed for determination. He stated that he is still pursuing his P2 million defamation suit against the State, adding that the one of contempt was still going through the case management system. He also said he does not know what will happen to the disciplinary proceedings against him, adding that a record of any disciplinary action taken against an employee shall remain valid for a period of six months.