Ace' Jele meets Board over corruption charges

MBABANE – After being served with about 12 charges of alleged corruption, the Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Swazi National Airways, Charles Jele, yesterday met with its Board members.

The meeting was held at the Municipal Council of Mbabane‘s offices and present was Board Chairperson Nokuthula Mthembu and prominent attorney Lindifa Mamba.

Jele, who is also a Board member, Mthembu and Mamba exited the Council building at around 11:30am.

When approached about the meeting, Jele expressed surprise that the Times had gotten wind of the meeting and wanted to know where this information had come from.

Asked whether the meeting was following his appearance before the KPMG team regarding his charges, Jele replied: "We were meeting only as National Airways to find grounds for the charges. However, this meeting had nothing to do with KPMG."

He said, as far as the charges were concerned, there is still nothing to write about.

"At the moment there is nothing to write about. As soon as there is something I will let you know," Jele said, before walking away with lawyer Mamba.

At first Jele had disputed that Mamba was part of the meeting and claimed the latter was attending another meeting in the same building.

However, soon after, he called Mamba, who was nearby, and told him the Times knew they were holding a meeting.

The lawyer simply smiled and said nothing before walking away with him.

Before Mamba, Jele and Mthembu walked out of the building, another well known attorney, Mabandla Manzini, was seen exiting the Council offices.

It could not be ascertained whether he was part of the meeting or not.

Jele, it has been gathered, has been charged following a probe by KPMG as part of the investigations into 14 entities that Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini recently revealed would be investigated.

According to well placed sources, there are plans to bring in a South African advocate for the case which is said to have been under investigation for some time now. Initially the potential charges were as high as 20.

It is also said the Central Bank, which has been visible in a number of corruption-related cases recently, will be involved in the trying of the case.

In November 2010, when naming the entities to be probed while in Parliament, the PM said these include projects funded by the National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA), the Phalala and Civil Servants Medical Referral Funds, Central Transport Administration (CTA), Customs and Excise, Baylor Clinic, Civil Service Commission (CSC), Scholarships, E50 million Capacity Building Fund, Schools, Regional Development Fund, Royal Swazi National Airways Corporation, Health Services - Drugs Management, Swaziland Trading House and Public Service Recruitment.

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