The BCP decision follows Gaolathe's decision of last month to withdraw his challenge at the Court of Appeal (CoA) over a P1.3 million notice against him by liquidators of an asset management company, Capital Management Botswana (CMB). The Vice President has since entered into negotiations. He got into a battle with the CMB liquidator in 2021 and legal cases were filed against the Alliance for Progressives (AP) president, Gaolathe, and others. Now the BCP says in addition to reporting the Vice President to DCEC and FIA, it will also explore private prosecution of Gaolathe for his role in the CMB saga.
Gaolathe, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) 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). Investigators traced about P600 million that the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) and Bona Life allege was mishandled by an asset manager. Gaolathe lost the case at the High Court after challenging the notice of 'Setting aside and Recovery of a Transaction', issued against him by CMB liquidator, Kopanang Thekiso.
In a statement released yesterday before the budget speech party spokesperson, Mpho Pheko, indicated they were taking these actions because the Vice President has failed to proffer any explanations to the BCP. “After the High Court judgment and the withdrawal of his appeal from the CoA, the BCP requested the Vice President to explain his involvement with BPOPF and CMB saga,” Pheko highlighted in the statement. “The High Court has confirmed that Minister of Finance, Gaolathe unduly benefited from public officers’ pension funds through his involvement with CMB, CMA, and Flemming; whilst pensioners continue to suffer untold miseries.” Pheko added that in an extraordinary development, the UDC government’s maiden budget speech was to be delivered at a time when a dark cloud hovers over the Minister of Finance, who is also the VP. Gaolathe delivered his first-ever budget speech yesterday as Finance minister.
The background of the case is that CMB liquidators issued a notice in January 2021 to demand an amount of P1.3 million, which was allegedly paid to him from a CMB transactional bank account from May 2017 to January 2018. Gaolathe subsequently opposed the notice and according to court documents, this was after the CMB liquidator in the cause of its duty as the liquidator observed that as of December 31, 2016, CMB's assets exceeded its liabilities. Upon investigation, it was noticed that a total amount of P1,333,328 was paid by CMB to him, during the period running from May 25, 2017, to January 10, 2018.
