Times Of Swaziland: SWEET MEMBERS GIVE CBE THUMBS-UP, WANT INVESTIGATIONS CONCLUDED

SWEET MEMBERS GIVE CBE THUMBS-UP, WANT INVESTIGATIONS CONCLUDED
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Sibusiso Zwane on 25/08/2022 08:57:00


MANZINI - SWEET members have given CBE a thumbs-up on the liquidation
proceedings update, but they want criminal investigations to be concluded so
that their lost money can be recovered.
The Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) released a statement yesterday, through its
Head of Strategy and Communications Mandla Luphodvo, titled; Update on
liquidation proceedings of Swaziland Women’s Economic Empowerment Trust
(SWEET). In the statement, Luphondvo said the CBE would like to update
depositors, members of the public and various stakeholders on the progress made
on the liquidation exercise of SWEET. He said to date, the liquidator, Sakimo
Group (Pty) Limited, which is working in collaboration with the CBE, had
collated information and had identified certain assets belonging to SWEET. He
said the information include both physical and electronic records and funds
which were held at various financial institutions.
Luphondvo said the liquidator was in the process of finalising an account that
would detail the estimated value of SWEET assets and liabilities. He added that
it was prudent to point out that the exercise also entailed a forensic analysis
of SWEET transactions. He said at the conclusion of this exercise, a notice
would be issued by the liquidator, inviting claimants and/or depositors to lodge
their claims in an appropriate format to be accompanied by affidavits.
“However, a rigorous exercise of determining each claim will be undertaken and
it will be followed by a distribution of what will be realised to the
claimants,” reads part of the statement. Moreover, he said the CBE and the
liquidator were aware of the depositor and public expectations for a speedy
resolution of this matter. Therefore, he said efforts were made to speed up the
progress and the turnaround period for this liquidation exercise. It is worth
noting that on November 24, 2021, the CBE and Financial Services Regulatory
Authority (FSRA), issued a joint statement that said a liquidator was to be
engaged to commence the liquidation process of the two institutions; SWEET Trust
and SWEET Microfinance.
Creditors
The institutions said the liquidator would also undertake an exercise to
conclusively identify genuine creditors of the institutions. It said it
anticipated that the process should be concluded within a period of at most six
calendar months, from the date of commencement of work by the liquidator. In
this very same statement, the two regulators, which investigated the affairs of
SWEET, highlighted that their findings and conclusions showed that there were
signs of criminal activities.  “There was dishonesty and deliberate
non-observance of corporate governance among Board, management and agents of the
organisation and related stakeholders,” reads part of the joint statement.
Thereafter, it said the investigation report and all relevant supporting
documents would be handed over to the relevant law enforcement agencies for
consideration and further appropriate action with regard to the elements of
criminality observed during the investigation.
When reacting to the statement, some SWEET members, who had been following the
matter closely, appreciated getting an update from CBE. However, they said
yesterday marked exactly nine months since the issue of criminal activities
within SWEET was publicly mentioned, but they had not seen any update regarding
the law taking its course.  “As the liquidator is working on the liquidation
exercise, the relevant law enforcement agencies should speed up the
investigations so that suspects can be arrested and when being sentenced, they
can be ordered to repay all the money that was lost through their criminal
activities and be given to the liquidator,” the SWEET members said. They added
that all that mattered to them was getting the money they invested together with
the interest, as the agreement was that they would get dividends at the end of
every financial year. SWEET Microfinance (PTY) LTD is an organisation which was
established in April 2015 and registered under certificate of incorporation No.
2235/2014. It is a company under SWEET and its patron was Her Majesty the Queen
Mother. It was established as one of the national economic empowerment
initiatives that emanated from the Eswatini Women’s Decade Plan of Action of
2010. Members saved at least E100 per month and were supposed to borrow money
based on their savings.