Bank of Botswana (BoB) and the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) are believed to have slept on warnings that the Botswana investor who defrauded the Namibian government of close to P100 million was involved in money laundering.
Phillip Fourie, of Great Triangle investments, had opened a bank account with Barclays Bank Botswana from where he is believed to have washed his ill gotten money. Barclays Bank officials, worried by Fourie’s account, alerted both BoB and DCEC.
Barclays’ spokesperson, Mike Klinck, confirmed this week that “all suspicious cases are reported to the Bank of Botswana and the DCEC and it was certainly the case with this one.”
BoB could not immediately respond to the allegations as officials were still consulting their records. Sunday Standard paper trail reveals that the money from the Namibia government was transferred to Barclays Bank Botswana. From there it was to be transferred to a special escrow account with Barclays bank in the European Union (EU).
