Botswana improves but remains on dirty money greylist
Friday, March 19, 2021
However, the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG), whose recommendations are used by global bodies to list Botswana, does not yet recommend the country’s removal from the adverse rankings.
ESAAMLG’s findings in May 2017 of dirty money deficiencies in Botswana led to the country’s greylisting in October 2018 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the leading anti-money laundering agency founded by the world’s richest countries. The FATF’s subsequent recommendations resulted in the European Union blacklisting Botswana and 22 other countries in February 2019, citing the weak systems and saying it “had to make sure that dirty money from other countries does not find its way to our financial system”.
While it is widely acknowledged that Khama holds the title of Kgosi, the government’s failure to properly gazette his recognition has raised serious concerns about adherence to legal procedures and the credibility of traditional leadership. (See a story elsewhere in this newspaper.) Recent court documents by the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Kgotla Autlwetse, shed light on the intricacies of Khama’s recognition process....