20 Jun 2019

Acting director general of the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA), Ms Antoinette Kula says while money laundering has existed for long, the crime is becoming more complex with each passing day.

Briefing members of Ntlo ya Dikgosi on June 18, Ms Kula said it was for that reason that Botswana and the rest of the world had put in place agencies as well as legal instruments to guide efforts to counter the crime.

In addition to already existing law enforcement agencies and crime busting bodies, Ms Kula said Botswana had also established the FIA to beef up efforts to fight financial crimes.

She said FIA, which gathered intelligence on financial crimes, discharged several functions among which she mentioned receiving of financial reports from banking institutions on suspicious transactions and electronic transactions between Botswana and other countries.

Furthermore, she said FIA also assessed reports received to verify whether or not the transactions contained therein were lawful, adding that any transactions suspected to be unlawful would then be forwarded to the relevant law enforcement agencies as FIA did not investigate but only gathered intelligence.

On another issue, Ms Kula said Botswana had been grey-listed by the World Bank as its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) instruments were found wanting.

The grey-listing, she said, meant that Botswana needed to work hard to address the deficiencies that had been found to exist within its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing instruments.

Though raising concerns about the financial services sector in the country, dikgosi appreciated the efforts being made to thwart financial crimes.

Balete tribal leader, Kgosi Mosadi Seboko wondered what was being done to ensure that seemingly innocent societies, especially in rural communities, did not eventually get used to push unlawful activities.

Kgosi Nametso Kopelo of Molepolole region observed that while some vehicle dealerships were now transacting through banks, there still remained some foreign-owned businesses that did not channel their proceeds through the local banking industry.

This gap, he said, needed to be addressed so that it could not appear that laws were made only for certain sections of society.

Specially elected member, Kgosi Maruje III asked what role FIA had played in the financial turmoil that the country was in with reports of large sums of money having allegedly been siphoned out of the country.

Tutume region representative, Kgosi Rapelang Khuwe asked if the police were capacitated enough to play a meaningful role in the fight against money laundering. ENDs