INVESTIGATION
The investigation division is the division established in line with the laws governing the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences “the Directorate”. Its main function is to execute the mandate of the Directorate pursuant to Section 6 of the Prevention of Corruption and Economic Offences Act Number 5 of 1999. On inception i.e 2003, the division had only four Investigation officers, to date the division has a staff complement of twenty-one officers (21) headed by the Director Investigations and supported by two Chief Investigation Officers.
The division’s mandate, as aforesaid, is derived from section 6 of the Act as amended, it provides for the gathering of evidence on the alleged cases of corruption and incidental offences thereto. The law further allows for the entering into property, search and seizure of exhibitory material and the subsequent arrest of persons reasonably suspected to be involved in the commission of the crime. The Directorate is guided in its operations by the principle of prosecution led investigation. The law also provides for the division to help other Law Enforcement Agencies in the investigation of offences involving dishonesty, fiscal and revenue laws of Lesotho. The Division is also tasked with the investigation of Money Laundering cases as stipulated and provided for in the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act, sec 11 which establishes DCEO as the Anti Money Laundering Authority.
In the period 1st April 2018 to date, the division has been working on the following number of cases which are still under investigation:
| Procurement | Bribery | Money Laundering | Fraud | Abuse of Power |
| 34 | 3 | 4 | 32 | 15 |
In January 2019, the Director of Investigations –Adv. Sefako Seema was elected to the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption as the Rapporteur to the Board for the entire African Continent aimed at establishing anti-corruption strategies and enhancing the fight against corruption in Africa.
