Key anti-money laundering law takes effect

Last Wednesday, the European Union added Botswana to a list of 23 jurisdictions it intends to approve soon as a global blacklist for money laundering and terrorism financing. Other countries on the list include Nigeria, Iran, Pakistan and Panama.

The beneficial ownership law was passed last year and was expected to kick off in June 2019, to coincide with a countrywide company re-registration exercise, moving all entities to an online platform allowing public perusal of shareholding and beneficial shareholding.