WORKING WITH CRIMINAL AUTHORITIES ON FRAUD ISSUES

The Office is mandated to provide for the protection of the interests of consumers by means of investigation, prohibition and control of unfair business practice; to disseminate consumer related information and to provide for matters connected with and incidental to the foregoing. Because of the nature of our job, that is receiving general complaints from all kinds of consumers, we are compelled to work with various criminal authorities who assist the Office in investigation of such complaints.

We mainly work with the Police, Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS), various Government Departments and Parastatals. BURS on issues of tax evasion. These are reported mainly on tip-off basis by staff hired by such businesses. Consumers also alert the Office of businesses evading tax during lodging of complaint, when receipts are presented and they lack vital information such as VAT registration number Joint inspections involving the various Government Departments are carried out on a monthly basis to try and curb the issue of fraud among other issues. Below are some of the cases the Office has dealt with, in conjunction with other Criminal authorities.

EXAMPLES OF INSTANCES OF COLLABORATION WITH CRIMINAL AUTHORITIES Issues of tax evasion are discovered when consumers lodge their complaints in the Office for example, in several cases whereby consumers had their second hand vehicles confiscated by the Botswana Unified Revenue Services on the basis that the vehicles had not been cleared. Upon investigation it was discovered that the company selling the vehicles to the consumers was the one involved into some shady deals. The company belonged to some refugees, who in the first place, according to the law, were not even suppose to own a company as they were refugees.

We have dealt with The Serious Crime Unit, in the Botswana Police Services through referring to them a complaint regarding a consumer who bought a second hand Toyota Vitz (Market value P42g) under the pretext that it was a Toyota Yaris (market value P58g). The Consumer was later refunded the difference. We have worked with the Police and Registration of Companies in a case in which counterfeit HP products were circulating in the local market in very large magnitudes. They were later discovered to be produced locally. The business selling them appealed to the High Court and an order was issued banning the police from confiscating them. This resulted in the Office, together with Registration of Companies working together to confiscate.