Professor faces corruption and fraud charges

National University of Lesotho Professor Mosotho George appeared in the Maseru Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday. He is charged with corruption and fraud linked to public funding for a company he founded and controlled.

George, who lectures in analytical and applied chemistry, is a member of the university’s innovation committee. He is accused of unlawfully and intentionally abusing his position by failing to declare a conflict of interest in order to secure approximately M129,000 (M1=R1) in funding from the Competitiveness and Financial Inclusion Project (CAFI) for his own business.

CAFI is a government project designed to strengthen the private sector. It is financed by the World Bank through a US$45-million loan and a $7.5-million grant. The project started in 2022 and is scheduled to run until 2028.

The Innovation Committee oversees the university’s Innovation Hub, which incubates start-up businesses and supports them to become commercially viable.

According to the charge sheet, George, in his capacity as a committee member “was privy to information pertaining to competitive funding by CAFI” for businesses making representations to the committee.

It is alleged that he used this information to prepare a business proposal in the name of Orbitalab. The business was subsequently awarded M129,000 by CAFI.

The charge sheet states that CAFI required successful businesses to be formally registered. George then registered the business as Orbitals (Pty) Ltd, listing himself as “the sole shareholder and the only signatory of the business account”.

On the corruption charge, it is the state’s case that George “knowingly failed to disclose the nature of the interest and participated in the proceedings”.

On the fraud charge, it alleges that he “did unlawfully and with intent to defraud, deliberately make a false representation” by engaging another person to present the business proposal while concealing that he was the founder and shareholder of the company.

Magistrate Nkhethoa Molapo released George on bail of M15,000 on condition he does not interfere with witnesses, attend all court sessions, and provide a surety of M50,000 should he fail to comply with the bail conditions.

The matter was postponed to next week.

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