Inside the CMB alleged dirty money laundromat

Court records detail how over three years, businessmanen Timothy Marsland and Rapula Okaile allegedly stole and laundered P500 million of pensioners money.

This is contained in a voluminous charge sheet prepared by Priscilla Israel from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The two men are directors of liquidated Capital Management Botswana (CMB).

In count one, Marsland is accused of defrauding the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) when he made a false representation to BPOPF Chief Executive Officer Boitumelo Molefe on 26 June 2015 that Botswana Opportunity Partnership needed a drawdown of P50 million for investments in the acquisition of P50 worth of shares in Bramer Life Insurance for the benefit of BPOPF when in fact the statement was false.

In count Two, Okaile and Marsland in their personal capacities in April 2016 in Gaborone made a misrepresentation to Molefe that Botswana Opportunity Partnership needed a drawdown of P150 million for investment in Wilderness Holdings for the benefit of BPOPF when in fact the accused persons knew that the statement was false. In Count Three, Okaile and Marsland in their personal capacities as Directors of CMB made a false representation to Molefe that Botswana Opportunity Partnership needed a drawdown of P150 million for investment in the acquisition of shares in Shereto Investments for the benefit of BPOPF while they knew the statement was false.  According to Count Four, Okaile and Marsland allegedly made a misrepresentation to Molefe that Botswana Opportunity Partnership needed P100 million for purposes of investment in Cell City and underwriting the establishment of Africans Graduate Institute of Leadership and Enterprise by acquiring 75 percent of the enterprise and did obtain P100 million from BPOPF when in fact they did not intend to invest in Agile Pty Ltd and as a result of the misrepresentation they did in fact obtained P50 million which they used for their own benefit.

In Count Five, the two men face the same charge similar to the ones they are facing in Count Four. In Count six, Okaile and Marsland in 17 June 2016 in Gaborone laundered more than P24 million, which was proceeds of crime, according to the State. In Count Seven, in 14 September 2016, they allegedly laundered P124 million which was proceeds of serious crime.  On Count eight, the two men allegedly laundered P33 million in October 2016, which was proceeds of crime. In Count Nine, Okaile and Marsland allegedly laundered P50 million on 5^th October 2016, which the State says was a proceed of crime. According to Count 10, on 17 October 2016 the State alleges that Okaile and Marsland laundered three million Pula. Count 11, the State alleges that the two men laundered three million Pula. In Count 12, the two men on 26 October 2016 laundered five million Pula. Count 13 shows that they allegedly laundered five million Pula on 3^rd November 2016 and on Count 14, Okaile and Marsland allegedly laundered P10 million on 4^th November 2016. On 28 November 2016, they allegedly laundered another P10 million. On Count 16, they allegedly laundered another P10 million on 6^th December 2016.  In 6^th February 2017, the State alleges that Okaile and Marsland laundered four million Pula. In 16^th February 2017, the two men allegedly laundered five million Pula. On Count 19, they also laundered five million Pula on 29^th March 2017.

According to Count 20, they allegedly laundered two million Pula which the State alleges was a proceed of crime.  On 12^th April 2017, they allegedly laundered six million Pula which the State alleges was a proceed of crime.  In Count 22, Okaile and Marsland allegedly laundered 2.7 million on 20^th April while on Count 23, they laundered 34 million on 27 million.  Okaile and Marsland are also accused of laundering four million Pula on 27 April 2017 and on the same date they also allegedly laundered another four million Pula.  In Count 26, the two men allegedly laundered more than P13 million on 27 April 2017 in Gaborone.  They also allegedly laundered more than P2.3 million on 17 may 2017 in Gaborone while on Count 28 they allegedly laundered more than P4.9 million.

In Count 29, they allegedly laundered three million Pula. Meanwhile after allegedly defrauding BPOPF between 2015 and 2017,  the two men, in Count 30 allegedly attempted to defraud Botswana Insurance Fund Management P71 million in January 2019 by issuing an instruction for First National Bank to transfer the said amount from an account belonging to Botswana Insurance Fund Management to another account held by CMB on false pretence that they had legal rights over the funds in question while inf act the said representation was false.

According to an affidavit by State investigating officer, Kentse Setaboshane, it is not true that P477 million paid by Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) was all used for investment. He states that according evidence gathered, money drawn down by Capital Management (CMB) was not used for the intended investments save for Botswana Life (P50 million) and Cell City (P50 million).