01 Sep 2020

Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Thapelo Matsheka says there is no maximum amount of  hard cash an individual is allowed to carry when they travel to and from  foreign destinations.

Answering a question in Parliament, Dr Matsheka explained that the general cash transaction threshold provided under Regulation 19 of Financial Intelligence Act, travellers into and out of Botswana were required to declare to Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) at ports of entry or exit, any hard cash in their possession exceeding P10 000 and provide proof of the source of money.

In the absence of such proof, or if there were any suspicions, investigations are carried out by BURS to ascertain the source of money carried across the borders of Botswana and the legitimacy thereof, said Dr Matsheka.

He further explained that all transactions involving declared amounts at borders were reported by BURS to the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) as part of Compliance reports in terms of section 36 of the FIA.

In addition, Dr Matsheka said all suspected false cash declarations were reported as suspicious transactions, and were analysed and disseminated by FIA to Botswana Police Service and Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime for further investigation.

The minister also said that transactions that were not reported as suspicious were used by FIA for monitoring and intelligence purposes.

Dr Matsheka was responding to Molepolole North MP, Mr Oabile Regoeng, who wanted to know the maximum amount of  cash an individual was allowed to carry when they travelled to and from foreign destinations.

He further asked if there was no limit and whether it was not appropriate that there should be a requirement at ports of  entry and exit, for travellers carrying cash above a certain threshold to produce proof from the bank that the money was withdrawn from its real source. Ends