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Coenraad (Coenie) Botha en sy vrou is weer in hegtenis geneem en sal na verwagting Woensdag in die hof verskyn. Foto Argief
Coenraad (Coenie) Botha en sy vrou is weer in hegtenis geneem en sal na verwagting Woensdag in die hof verskyn. Foto Argief

Gobabis crypto couple back in court tomorrow

Kristien Kruger
Although cryptocurrency investor Coenraad ‘Coenie’ Botha (69) and his Zimbabwean wife Charlotte Murove (32) were released last Friday, they were rearrested and are expected to appear in court again on Wednesday.

Botha and Murove's case was struck off the roll on Friday after Magistrate David Mukuyu found that they had been arrested without a warrant and were therefore in illegal detention. He ordered their immediate release.

Mukuyu found that the police initially did not arrest Botha and Murove on a charge of fraud - for which no arrest warrant is required - but arrested them for alleged breaches of the Banking Institutions Act and the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA), for which warrants of arrest are indeed required.

However, after the police got their paperwork in order, the couple were rearrested and briefly appeared before the court.

They are expected to appear in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court again tomorrow morning for a formal bail application.

Charges

Botha and Murove, who own the crypto business CBI Exchange, are in hot water after an alleged violation of the Banking Institutions Act. They allegedly committed fraud to the tune of over N$160 million.

The Bank of Namibia (BoN) has accused Botha of accepting deposits from people via his company without the required licence.

When they appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court last week, they stood trial on 64 charges including fraud, money laundering and operating a banking business while not authorised to do so.

In the fraud complaint, the State alleged that between 2018 and 2022, Botha and Murove misrepresented to investors that they were operating a legitimate business authorised to receive investments from members of the public and that such investments would grow with interest, while knowing that they were not authorised to receive any deposits or investments.

It was also alleged in the fraud complaint that investors paid them a total of N$163 million.

Arrest

Botha was arrested last week at the Buitepos border post. The State argued that he tried to flee before his arrest, but he countered that he was on his way to South Africa to visit friends.

The couple's lawyer Afrika Jantjies was also arrested last week during their court appearance for alleged complicity.

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-21

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