Coenie Botha has been charged by the Bank of Namibia (BoN).

New Era were first to note Botha’s appearance “Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on a charge of fraud” yesterday.

As per a subsequent press-release issued by the Bank of Namibia earlier today;

The Bank of Namibia has conducted an investigation into the business activities of CBI Exchange Namibia and Mr. Coenraad Barend Nolte Botha, who are suspected of conducting banking business by receiving, accepting, or taking deposits from the public, without being so licensed.

Although not explicitly characterized as such by BoN, I believe this is the Namibian equivalent of securities fraud.

Having found CBI Exchange and Botha “were not authorities by the Bank to conduct banking business”, BoN has charged them with violating section 6 of the Banking Institutions Act.

The Act describes that conduct of this nature amounts to an offense, therefore, the Bank has referred this matter to the Namibian Police for further investigation.

Mr. Botha has been arrested and appeared in Court today. The matter falls now under the realm of the prosecuting authorities.

BoN calls on Botha’s victims to contact Namibian Police.

I went looking for more information on the Namibian Police website but unfortunately the site is currently down. There’s no further news on Botha’s arrest on Namibian Police’s social media channels.

Botha’s MLM crypto crime spree began with Uhuru Tribe in 2018.

Uhuru Tribe collapsed in November 2020, prompting Botha to reboot as CBI Global (aka CBI Exchange).

CBI Global went on to collapse multiple times throughout 2021. By March 2022, BehindMLM had documented three CBI Global collapses.

That same month the Bank of Namibia took its first steps against Botha, preemptively freezing CBI Global related bank accounts.

South Africa’s FSCA followed with a CBI Global securities fraud warning in April 2022.

New Era reports Botha stole N$160 million through CBI Global alone ($8.5 million USD). It’s unclear whether this includes funds stolen through Uhuru Tribe.

 

Update 14th March 2024 – Coenie Botha’s attorney and CBI Global accomplice Afrika Jantjies has also been arrested.