Boko sidelines DCEC, DPP in forensic audit probe

Spira Tlhankane | Wednesday November 11, 2026 06:00

He warned that some of the very institutions expected to pursue corruption suspects are themselves compromised. In a stunning declaration that raises serious questions about his confidence in the country's established investigative and prosecutorial machinery, Boko has effectively placed his faith in a special investigative task force. Rather than relying exclusively on the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to pursue the P33 billion forensic audit findings, the task force will do the job, according to Boko.

Boko suggested that handing sensitive forensic audit findings to existing institutions could compromise investigations, warning that some of the agencies ordinarily responsible for investigating wrongdoing are themselves tainted. His remarks offer the clearest indication yet of why the state has withheld detailed forensic audit reports from the DCEC and other relevant agencies more than six months after the findings were presented to him. Boko’s comments amount to an extraordinary vote of limited confidence in the existing anti-corruption machinery. He argued that the magnitude and sensitivity of the suspected wrongdoing require a specialised investigative mechanism capable of operating beyond the limitations of traditional institutions.

'Just imagine, and one of the things that you will realise is that most or some of our institutions, including those that would otherwise conduct investigations, are themselves tainted and compromised in one way or the other,' Boko said when delivering his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) yesterday. 'If you clumsily hand them the information and ask them to investigate themselves, you can imagine what kind of investigation and outcome you will get at the end of it all.' The President's remarks are particularly striking because the DCEC is the country's principal anti-corruption investigative agency, whilst the DPP is constitutionally entrusted with the prosecution of criminal offences. Boko’s warning comes against the backdrop of government admissions that the anti-corruption agency has yet to receive the detailed forensic audit reports necessary to investigate suspected criminal wrongdoing.

The President said allowing existing institutions to investigate themselves could defeat the very purpose of the forensic audit, potentially shielding those implicated from accountability. 'Sometimes we must act with circumspection and wisdom, and that is very important,' Boko declared. The President's apparent mistrust of existing investigative structures has now culminated in the establishment of a Special Investigations and Asset Recovery Task Force. Boko now believes it will possess the specialised capabilities necessary to pursue complex financial crimes and trace suspected stolen assets across international jurisdictions. 'So this special task force will conduct investigations, and now what they will be capable of doing, which the audit could not do, is to follow the trail into accounts even across jurisdictions and engage all the protocols and measures to secure whatever properties there may be,' he said. The President did not disclose the composition of the task force, who would lead it, when it would become operational or how its investigative powers would relate to those already vested in the DCEC and Botswana Police Service. The President was equally candid about the limitations facing the DPP, saying that the prosecutorial authority, as presently constituted, lacks the resources and personnel necessary to handle the enormous volume and complexity of cases potentially arising from the audit.

'The other dimension is the level of skill, time, and resources required to finalise the criminal side of the investigation and trace assets, recover and prosecute, so if you were to assign such a task to the DPP as it is presently constituted with the kind of establishment it has,' Boko noted, 'then everything there will grind to a halt, and they will have to face these cases only and not others, so the wheels of justice will grind to a halt'. The remarks expose the enormous institutional challenge confronting the government as it seeks to prosecute suspected corruption involving billions of pula without overwhelming the existing criminal justice system. 'So before we move, we need to prepare ourselves and make sure that we move with some concept and order,' he said.

The President's justification for withholding the detailed audit findings also marks a significant development in the controversy surrounding the government's handling of the report. Until now, the government had largely attributed the delay in distributing the sensitive reports to technical difficulties associated with transferring forensic evidence onto a secure government-controlled electronic platform. Minister of International Relations Dr Phenyo Butale confirmed that the DCEC and other relevant institutions were still waiting for the underlying reports. 'The DCEC and other relevant government agencies (Public Sector Reforms Unit, for example), including the audited entities, are yet to be given the detailed, underlying 30 entity-specific forensic audit reports – which contain entity-specific findings, detailed factual analysis, supporting evidence, and material relevant to potential investigative, recovery, disciplinary or proposed legal action,' Butale disclosed.

He was responding to questions from Bangwato Kgosikgolo Ian Khama in Ntlo ya Dikgosi last week. The minister further acknowledged that the reports contain the identities of individuals and companies potentially implicated in suspected wrongdoing. 'These reports include, inter alia, names of persons, companies and other entities for which there is various levels of attribution of accountability including possible suspects,' he said. But Boko's SONA remarks have introduced another dimension to the controversy. Defending the decision not to release the detailed findings publicly, the President warned that premature disclosure could jeopardise investigations and undermine efforts to bring suspects to justice. 'To those who have demanded that the more focused, specific findings of the task force be made available to the full glare of the public, nothing could be more dangerous, nothing could sabotage the very process of seeking accountability that we sought to engage,' he emphasised. Boko maintained that publicly releasing the sensitive material would not advance the government's accountability objectives. 'The demand that let's make the audit available publicly would not have served us at all.' During his SONA address, Boko described the findings in unusually forceful terms. 'I am describing here a potential criminal enterprise meriting proper, serious, skilled investigation.'

The forensic audit, undertaken by international consultancy Alvarez & Marsal Middle East Limited, examined transactions and public expenditure across 30 institutions between April 2014 and March 2024. Its findings, presented to Boko on April 30, 2026, identified suspected corruption, fraud, embezzlement, waste and financial mismanagement associated with estimated losses of P33 billion. The auditors also flagged 80 particularly serious matters requiring further investigation, including suspected bribery, collusion, unlawful enrichment and other financial misconduct.

Boko also announced that government had adopted the auditors' recommendations in full, with institutional reforms expected to unfold over the next two to three years. 'We have adopted the recommendations of the audit in full, and implementation of the reform agenda to address the systemic failures has commenced and will continue over the next two to three years. 'We will strengthen governance, restore public trust, prosecute those responsible, recover stolen assets wherever possible, and ensure that culprits are held accountable,' he highlighted.

The situation now presents a delicate test for an administration that swept into power in 2024 promising to restore integrity to public institutions.