CMB money trail leads to cases against Gaolathe, others
Mpho Mokwape | Monday April 17, 2023 06:00
CMB, an asset manager firm now under liquidation shot into the national spotlight in 2018 when the BPOPF alleged directors there had manipulated a 2014 agreement to shifted pension funds to unclear investments and companies.
Gaolathe, who is also the former Member of Parliament for Gaborone Bonnington-South, first surfaced in the matter from documents subsequently unearthed by statutory managers engaged by the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA).
This week, documents filed with the High Court indicate that investigators have filed legal suits in an attempt to recover almost P10m from Gaolathe, Kebonang, lawyer Gabriel Kanjabanga and businessman, Moitsheki Lekalake.
In Gaolathe’s case, CMB liquidators issued a notice in January 2021 to demand an amount of P1.3 million, which was paid to him from CMB transactional bank account during the period of May 2017 to January 2018. Gaolathe subsequently opposed the notice.
Mmegi is informed that the case has gone through the High Court and is now before the Court of Appeal. This week Gaolathe’s lawyers said the matter was yet to be heard.
In 2018, Gaolathe confirmed that he had entered into a technical and strategic partnership agreement with Fleming Asset Management Botswana, which was bought by Capital Management Africa (CMA). Tim Marsland, a South African citizen, was the controlling mind behind both CMA and its local affiliate, CMB.
Marsland spent more than a year behind bars in South Africa, fighting extradition to Botswana and continues to appear in that country’s courts, as local prosecutors want him brought across the border.
Gaolathe has previously told Mmegi that he was only paid for consultancy work which he did for Fleming and that he has no business with the missing BPOPF funds.
In Kanjabanga’s case, the prominent lawyer is accused of receiving P5m from CMB funds on February 2, 2018. Kanjabanga has also opposed the matter at the High Court, although the status of the case could not be verified this week.
High Court judge, Justice Zein Kebonang, meanwhile, has recused himself from his twin brother, Sadique’s case, due to the potential conflict of interest. The case has subsequently been allocated to Justice Omphemetse Motumise, but its status is presently unclear as the High Court’s filing system was said to be down this week.
Lekalake’s case, meanwhile, has also implicated President Mokgweetsi Masisi in the CMB’s affairs. The connection came in an affidavit deposed by Lekalake to the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) on June 15, 2018.
Investigators are demanding the P3.5 million which was paid to him by CMB between February 2017 and June 29, 2018. Lekalake’s is opposing the claim and his case is currently before Justice Chris Gabanagae.
Lekalake has previously disclosed that on May 31, 2017, he made a P110,000 donation to the then vice president Masisi for his campaign for the Botswana Democratic Party chairmanship.
“Funds were handed over in cash to the campaign fundraiser Honourable Sadique Kebonang for onwards transmission,” he had said at the time.
Lekalake was also asked by the DCEC to provide an explanation regarding a number of financial transactions, in particular payments made into the account of Varsity League, a company in which he was the sole director and shareholder.
The businessman said subsequent to its incorporation, Varsity League was engaged by CMA represented by its chief executive officer, Marsland, to undertake two transactions. Its mandate was to find appropriate and suitable assets for CMA to purchase.