Staff Reporter
THE Windhoek High Court has dismissed an application by businessman Coenraad Botha and his wife, Charlotte Murova, to have personal items, including a computer hard drive storing a total of N$163 million, returned.
The couple were accused of defrauding investors by running a purported Ponzi scheme in contravention of the Banking Institutions Act of 1998 and were arrested on 11 March 2024 at the Buitepos border while on their way to South Africa.
Upon their arrest, police seized multiple items from their vehicle, which included the Ledger Nano cryptocurrency hardware wallet device storing N$163 million, two MacBook Air devices, cellphones and assorted USB flash drives. The application to have these devices returned was, however, dismissed, with each of the parties ordered to pay their own legal costs. The reasons for the judgment are yet to be provided.
The 64 charges that Botha and Murova are facing consist of one count of fraud involving N$163 million, 31 counts of conducting a banking business without authorisation, 31 charges of money laundering, and one count of conducting a Ponzi scheme, which is a contravention of the Banking Institutions Act of 1998.
The State is alleging that Botha and Murova 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.
The couple were released on bail in April 2024.
Photo: File
