DCEC says Phiri�s money clean
Staff Writer | Friday August 25, 2017 16:19
For the first time in the ongoing legal tussle, DCEC has affirmed that the Reserve Bank of South Africa gave the thumbs up for Khato Civils to move its millions of cash into Botswana.
Khato Civils, which is owned by Simbi Phiri, had its bank accounts partially frozen after the DCEC suspected money laundering.
Phiri moved about P24 million in batches in foreign currency into various Stanbic Bank accounts in different intervals between 2010 and 2014, as they set up Khato Civils Botswana. This is contrary to speculations that the funds may have been moved out of South Africa without the knowledge and approval of financial authorities in South Africa, and possibly to evade tax.
The DCEC applied for the freezing of the accounts only last year,suspecting that the funds may have been laundered, but Phiri had insisted the funds were accordingly applied for through an authorised dealer in South Africa for purposes of setting up and running the new Khato Civils Botswana business operations.
As the case resumed before Justice Leburu at the High Court on Wednesday morning, to review the partial freezing of the accounts, Khato Civils attorney Tengo Rubadiri requested the court to disburse the whole of the remaining P14 million to his clients to continue running their business operations. He argued that the DCEC had been conducting their investigations for years now, and that they (DCEC) cannot be expected to hold the funds forever while their investigations continue to get nowhere. He stated that it is now a year since the accounts were partially frozen.
The Khato Civils attorney said the expectation was that by end of June, the DCEC would have completed their investigations and reported to the court if there were any serious circumstances for continuing to hold onto the remaining funds.
Attorney Rubadiri further told Court that his client had incurred debts of over P6 million that needed to be cleared, over and above the funds needed to run company operations.
Updating the court, the DCEC investigating officer Mompoloki Snax Rapulane, in his affidavit, said he had found that Phiri had followed due process in requesting for the foreign currency from South African authorities, the Reserve Bank. Rapulane’s assertion that the funds should have been used strictly for travelling purposes and not for investments was rejected outright by Khato Civils.
Rubadiri urged the court to reject the documentary basis of the DCEC officer’s argument, the Reserve Bank’s manual, since it lacked legal authenticity and therefore cannot stand in court, as it needed to have been stamped by the Reserve Bank of South Africa for it to be admissible as proof in court.