21 Nov 2018

Government has created a fund in which all proceeds of crime would be deposited into and used to compensate victims of crime.

In a recent interview, the receiver in the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Bafi Nlanda, explained that such proceeds could either be in the form of confiscated property or money.

He said the fund was created following introduction of the Proceeds and Instruments of Crime Act (PICA) of 2015.

The office of the receiver was responsible for preserving the value of the confiscated property or money in respect of an order made under the Act or any written law of Botswana.

Mr Nlanda explained that the main aim of the introduction of this Act was to compensate victims of crime after the court satisfied itself in accordance with the Act that the victim was liable for compensation.

For his office to act, he said there should be a court order obtained by the prosecution authority directing the office of the receiver to compensate the victim.

Mr Nlanda also said although his office had received millions of pula from the proceeds of crime since its inception in 2015, the office was still restrained because no such court order had ever been made.

“For us to come in, there must be a court order directing the receiver to make such compensation if it turns out that the proceeds were gained by the defendant as a result of crime,” he said

He further said that the case must first go to the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) to obtain a court order for the receiver to take action.

Mr Nlanda said as of now there was nothing that had been forfeited to the state saying victims of crime could not start benefiting from the Fund.

“The monies are not yet the property of government because there is no court order directing us to take action,” he added.

He explained that initially no one took responsibility for proceeds forfeited to state until such proceeds disappeared into thin air.

Mr Nlanda further stated that because the majority of criminals were enticed by money and profit, government saw it critical to pay attention to this particular aspect by creating a criminal justice system that would take away from criminals the gains accumulated from crime.

He explained that other countries such as South Africa already have the Fund in place. ENDS