22 Jul 2019

There are 58 cases of money laundering, which are currently under investigations, says Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Nonofo Molefhi.

Mr Molefhi told Parliament on behalf of Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, that one case, with several counts of money laundering, was currently pending before the court while one case was prosecuted and completed in December 2018. 

He also said the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and the Botswana Police Service (DPP) had since established special units dedicated to the investigation of money laundering cases and identification of assets linked to money laundering.

The two institutions, according to Mr Molefhi, had also adopted parallel investigation approach, wherein all cases in, which predicate offences were investigated were also subjected to money laundering investigation. 

The DPP has also established a unit responsible for the forfeiture of assets linked to money laundering and terrorism financing; 

He further said the Office of Receiver, which became operational in September 2017, was responsible for confiscation of assets, which had been determined by the courts to be proceeds or instruments of crime or related to money laundering. These, assets, he said were not kept under the Asset forfeiture Unit (AFU). 

So far, he said the value of the assets, which had been confiscated since inception of the Office of the Receiver to date was  as follows, over P38.3 million for immovable property, being residential and commercial plots, houses and buildings. Regarding confiscated case he said about P159.7 million was seized while over P8.5 million was confiscated for vehicles. 

He also said the DCEC, BPS, The Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) and Financial Intelligence Agency had signed a Memorandum of Understanding intended to enhance coordinated efforts between the parties with respect to combating money laundering and terrorism financing. “The DCEC Act was amended to introduce Section 44 (b), which enabled the DCEC to share information with the aforementioned counter parts.” 

He was answering a questions from specially elected MP, Mr Mephato Reatile, who had asked the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security whether there had been any cases of money laundering investigated and prosecuted after the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) Memorandum of Agreement (MoA).

Also, he wanted minister to state the number of money laundering cases that had been detected, investigated and prosecuted.

Further, Mr Reatile had asked the minister to explain whether there were any coordinated efforts by the BPS, BURS, DPP and DCEC to combat money laundering as per the recommendations of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Measures: Botswana Mutual Evaluation Report of May 2017. ENDS