State gets more time in N$163m crypto fraud case

A court interdict about electronic information storage devices is holding up the investigation of a case in which a couple are accused of defrauding investors of N$163 million through a cryptocurrency investment scheme.

The interdict, issued in the Windhoek High Court in May last year, is preventing investigators from getting access to evidence stored on electronic devices seized from fraud accused Coenraad Botha (70) and his wife, Charlotte Murove (34), magistrate Olga Muharukua noted in a ruling delivered in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

Muharukua gave the ruling on an application by the state for a further postponement of the case in which Botha and Murove are facing 64 charges.

Defence lawyer Marco Kazondana opposed the state’s application for a postponement.

Muharukua noted in her ruling that the court was informed that in terms of the High Court’s interdict, the police and the prosecutor general may not access electronic devices seized from Botha and Murove after their arrest in March last year.

A judgement in the case in which the order was given is expected to be delivered in the High Court on 26 January, the magistrate was also informed.

Muharukua said giving a postponement of the criminal case would not prejudice Botha and Murove. On the other hand, refusing a postponement would place an administrative burden on the state, which would have to look for the accused and summon them to return to court if their case had been struck off the court roll or charges against them had been withdrawn.

Muharukua postponed the matter to 26 February, for the state to make a decision about the charges on which Botha and Murove are to be prosecuted and about the court in which they would stand trial.

The 64 charges that Botha and Murove are facing consist of a count of fraud involving N$163 million, 31 counts of conducting a banking business without authorisation, 31 charges of money laundering, and a count of conducting a Ponzi scheme, which is a contravention of the Banking Institutions Act of 1998.

The state is alleging that Botha and Murove defrauded investors from 2018 to 2022 by creating the impression that they were operating a legitimate business and were authorised to receive investments from members of the public, while in truth they were not authorised to receive any deposits or investments.

In the fraud charge faced by the couple, the state is alleging that a sum of N$163 million was received by them as a result of the investment scheme they ran through the entity CBI Exchange Namibia.

Botha testified during a bail hearing in March last year that CBI Exchange Namibia was started in 2021, after a similar cryptocurrency investment scheme that he ran in South Africa under the name CBI X SA had been closed down.

According to Botha, CBI Exchange Namibia traded in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether, and investors could buy and sell cryptocurrencies through it.

According to South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), Botha through CBI X SA solicited investments from members of the public in South Africa by promising unrealistic returns of 1% to 4% per week on invested funds.

An investigation by the FSCA “disclosed that there was no legitimate financial product or investment activity that generated the purported returns paid to the investors by Botha and CBI entities”, the FSCA stated in a press release in March last year.

The couple pleaded not guilty to all of the charges during an appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in January this year.

Botha and Murove were granted bail in amounts of N$50 000 and N$30 000, respectively, in April last year, nearly six weeks after they were arrested.

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