26 Aug 2021

 The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development intends to amend the Financial Intelligence Act to bring it to international standards.

This will ensure that beneficial owners of all financial transactions taking place in the country are identified and verified.

Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Ms Peggy Serame said this presenting the Financial Intelligence (Amendment) Bill for second reading in Parliament on Tuesday.

Ms Serame said once amended, the Act would make Botswana compliant with international obligations relating to the need to keep information or records of ‘Beneficial Owner’ information for purposes of transparency and effective exchange of tax information.

She said one of the corrective measures was to define the term ‘Beneficial Owner’ in accordance with international standard and thereafter request for a supplementary review before the end of October this year.

“I am confident that, with this corrective measure, Botswana should get a better rating at the supplementary review,” she stated. Thus, the Bill seeks to adopt the term ‘Beneficial Owner’ as per the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

She said by adopting the new definition of ‘Beneficial Owner’ Botswana would now satisfy both the FATF and the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group ESAAMLG standards.

Ms Serame stated that the amended Act would effectively regularise Botswana’s compliance with the Global Forum requirements as well as the FATF standard by the deadline of October this year.

Supporting the Bill, MPs said the ministry was on the right track for Botswana to undertake verification and identification of beneficial owners.

They noted that Botswana’s grey listing for failure to meet international financial standards was undesirable because it would have adverse effects on the country’s economy.

In that regard, the MPs welcomed the Bill, arguing that it would guard against money laundering and enable Batswana to trade with the international community easily.

They however regretted that for a long time Botswana had been on the spotlight allegedly as a tax haven. ENDs