Botswana: A Paradigm of International Proportions
| Pages | 389-392 |
| Published date | 01 February 1998 |
| Date | 01 February 1998 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb025852 |
| Author | Virginia L. Towler |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
Journal of Financial Crime — Vol. 5 No. 4 — International
INTERNATIONAL
Botswana: A Paradigm of International Proportions
Virginia L. Towler
The full title of this paper should really follow
with 'Can the Stone-Age Wheels of Justice
Combat Corruption and White-Collar Crime or
Should We Learn to Become Better Drivers?'.
Law enforcement's approach to fighting corrup-
tion and economic crime under a historic and tra-
ditional criminal justice framework can be equated
to a gigantic tyrannosaurus dinosaur trying to
gnash an ant with its huge front teeth. Though the
pre-historic species was large and overpowering,
there were inherent possible escape routes by
which a crafty animal could evade its wrath, ie by
running behind it or jumping on top of it and
even taking a ride on its tail. The dilemma of our
world's contemporary criminal justice systems,
though vastly more advanced, is still like the ele-
phant, the dinosaur's heir. The legal system is still
unable to swat away, with its trunk, long ears, or
tail,
the white-collar criminal, the contemporary
'gnat', wreaking havoc and running circles around
our judicial framework.
Law enforcement has much to learn from the
challenges faced by the Republic of Botswana's
Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime
(DCEC). Operational since 1994, under Botswa-
na's Corruption and Economic Crime Act of 1993,
the Directorate was formed to address the serious
problem of corruption and economic crime within
Botswana. The Directorate has both prospered and
foundered in its prodigious efforts to impact cor-
ruption and economic crime.
Director G. E. Stockwell reports that in Bots-
wana, as in many rural-based economies in
developing countries (moreover in developed cities
of countries around the world), thefts and frauds
perpetrated by public officials have been a 'serious
problem'. Government officials and even lesser
ranked bureaucrats are seen by most to be in posi-
tions of power and influence, with more access to
materials and resources than the average citizen.
Corruption of government officials abounds at all
levels of the public sector, including thefts of gov-
ernment funds at 'worrying levels'.
INVESTIGATIONS AND PROSECUTIONS
The Directorate's objective and candid Annual
Report for 1996 concerning its accomplishments
and self-critical disappointments is a useful para-
digm to nations with populations, financial resour-
ces and crime problems larger than those of
Botswana, a southern African nation with a land
mass slightly larger than France.
Since 1994, the Directorate's Report Centre,
which houses a telephone hotline, routinely
receives reports of corruption and economic crime
over a 12-hour period, every day, five days a week
(and eight hours on Saturdays), from the public
and various government departments. These
reports have culminated in 998 investigations since
1994,
only 462 (or 47 per cent) of which have
been concluded. At the time of the report's pub-
lication, of the 536 remaining cases under inves-
tigation, only 65 were in the judicial system, 37
were referred to government departments for dis-
ciplinary action, and 39 were being considered by
the Attorney General's office. Since the DCEC's
inception, only 141 investigations have resulted in
judicial proceedings. The report acknowledges that
overall only one in three investigations undertaken
by DCEC result in either prosecution or discipli-
nary action, which DCEC's Director, G. E. Stock-
well deemed 'unacceptable'.
Lest any reader think that Botswana's statistics
are uniquely disappointing, he or she should think
again. The inherent difficulties of investigating
cases are not unique to Botswana and, on the aver-
age,
can be applied to any country's criminal jus-
tice system, such as the USA. In Botswana, it takes
an average of two to three years for investigations
to be completed, due to the fact that each inves-
tigator at the Directorate handles two-thirds more
Page 389
To continue reading
Request your trial