The anti-corruption agency and intelligence service are telling markedly different stories about the controversial P100 billion “Butterfly” affair.
Appearing before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) this week, Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) Director General Botlhale Makgekgenene distanced her agency from the case, describing the manner in which it was pursued as fundamentally flawed.
She said the matter was taken to court without evidence and pointed to assertions by the Bank of Botswana that it had never held the astronomical sums allegedly stolen.
“Bank of Botswana even stated that they have never had such amounts of money,” Makgekgenene told PAC.
It now remains unclear whether the Butterfly affair collapsed because of prosecution built on defective evidence, as suggested by court findings and echoed by Makgekgenene? Or is it an unresolved intelligence investigation, as Magosi maintains?
The DCEC chief further acknowledged the reputational damage caused by the case, saying Botswana’s international standing had suffered as a result.
“We cannot deny that,” she said. Her testimony, however, sits uneasily alongside remarks made a week earlier by Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) Director General Peter Magosi before the same committee.
Magosi told PAC that investigations into the alleged missing funds were still active. He maintained that the intelligence agency was tracing the money and had already established where some of it had gone, indicating that the matter remained alive within the DIS.
The contrast could hardly be sharper. While Magosi argued that the investigation was ongoing, Makgekgenene said the DCEC had no matters relating to the Butterfly case.
“Magosi, as DIS Director, knows his mandate,” she said. “As the DCEC we have nothing relating to the Butterfly matter.”
It now remains unclear whether the Butterfly affair collapsed because of prosecution built on defective evidence, as suggested by court findings and echoed by Makgekgenene? Or is it an unresolved intelligence investigation, as Magosi maintains?
The Butterfly case became one of the defining controversies of the Mokgweetsi Masisi administration after allegations emerged that vast sums of money had been siphoned from the Bank of Botswana and laundered through local and international networks. The allegations triggered international attention and contributed to concerns about Botswana’s anti-money laundering controls. Those accused argued that the claims were fabricated.
President Duma Boko has previously described the affair as a serious threat to Botswana’s reputation and investor confidence. The government is currently paying the costs of the allegations through legal fees and reputation damage fees to some of the accused persons in the matter.
