The fragmented approach to confiscating dirty assets in Botswana
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Date
2018
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
In the early 1990s Botswana faced rising levels of grand corruption and economic crimes in
general. The laws could not cope with the high incidence of economic criminality, especially
as regards the confiscation of dirty assets. At the time, the government relied solely on laws
regulating the forfeiture of prohibited property and instruments of crime, given that there
were no laws authorising the confiscation of proceeds of crime. The drivers of the said
forfeiture laws are the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Botswana Police Service
(BPS) and the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS). Parliament then enacted the
Proceeds of Serious Crime Act No. 19 of 1990 (PSCA). The PSCA was a three-pronged tool in
that it introduced the offence of money-laundering, enhanced investigative powers, and
authorised conviction-based confiscation of proceeds of crime. The DPP was tasked with
conducting criminal prosecutions and applying for confiscation orders. The BPS was
mandated to conduct financial investigations.
Description
Magister Legum - LLM (Criminal Justice and Procedure)
Keywords
Botswana, Confiscation, Instruments, International Best Practices, Implementation, In personam, In rem, Multi-Agency Approach, Proceeds, Specialised Asset Forfeiture Unit