12 Jul 2018

The Corruption and Economic Crime Amendment Bill presented to Parliament on Wednesday seeks to among others address the deficiencies in the Corruption and Economic Crime Act. Presenting the Bill, Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration Mr Nonofo Molefhi said the amendment sought to insert a provision to allow the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) to share information with similar institutions in foreign countries.

He said it also provided for regarding and treating as confidential all documents and information shared under the Act.

Minister Molefhi also indicated that Botswana being a member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) through its membership of a regional body called the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG), the country was under monitoring by the FATF’s International Cooperation Review Group for a period of 12 months ending June this year, by which date Botswana was expected to have passed laws and shown progress towards effective implementation of the set statutes and standards.

He said should the country fail to address the technical compliance deficiencies and make effective progress towards the implementation of the laws by the set deadline, Botswana would be placed under enhanced monitoring.

Mr Molefhi explained that the failure to amend the Corruption and Economic Crime Act in the current meeting of Parliament could result in the FATF issuing a public statement declaring the country non-compliance thereby causing a risk to international financial system.

“Whilst blacklisted financial institutions operating of other countries could terminate dealings with Botswana’s financial institutions including provision of correspondent banking facilities and that would have an effect of crippling the economy of our country,” he said.

Debating the bill Gaborone Bonnington North MP Advocate Duma Boko wondered why Botswana needed to act in haste to comply with the ESAAMLG recommendations when the body had been in existence for a while.

He said with the recommendations having been made as way back as in 2016, the amendments would have been made earlier with Parliament being afforded enough time to prepare and deliberate on them in a more thorough and careful way.

Such tendencies to bring laws in haste needed to be discouraged he said, adding that such often resulted in legislators not having the opportunity to make meaningful contributions to the crafting of the laws. Mochudi East MP Mr Moagi Molebatsi also emphasised that it was critical for Parliament to be respected and its procedures and processes be followed.

He said it was not clear why the minister had to wait for two years to bring the law to Parliament.

Mr Molebatsi noted that it was disappointing that Parliament saw it fit to act in haste to please foreign bodies when it did not adopt the same speed when addressing the concerns of Batswana.

MP Tawana Moremi of Maun West said it was necessary for ESAAMLG to have engaged the relevant committees of Parliament so that the country could influence the entity’s standards.

He said Botswana could not keep on internalising and domesticating recommendations of organisations whose mandate the country was not well conversant with.

 Mr Moremi wondered whether Botswana at least had representation in the organisation.

MP for Selebi Phikwe West Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse, who also supported the Bill, said it was important for the DCEC to carry out lifestyle audits, particularly on people suspected to be living beyond their means.

He also called on the anti-graft agency to speed up investigations especially in cases in which the elite were implicated.

When the debate on the Bill ended, legislators voted in favour of the piece of legislation, adding on to the number of Bills that would have been adopted when the current sitting closes on Friday. BOPA