Times Of Swaziland: GOVT DOCUMENTS FORGERY: SYNDICATE NOW CLAIMS BAIL DEPOSITS

GOVT DOCUMENTS FORGERY: SYNDICATE NOW CLAIMS BAIL DEPOSITS
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Stanley Khumalo and Kwanele Dlamini on 26/08/2024 07:19:00


MBABANE – The syndicate that is forging government documents has reportedly
infiltrated the Judiciary.
Members of the syndicate are said to be using fraudulent documents to claim bail
deposits which were made at the Treasury Department. An investigation by this
publication uncovered that money was claimed at the Treasury Department, which
had been paid for accused persons in terms of bail. The accused persons on whose
behalf the money is paid are those who seek liberty while their cases are not
yet concluded. The investigation uncovered that there are individuals who
manufacture government documents with the sole purpose of reproducing them at
the Treasury Department and thereby defrauding government. As such, this
publication has learnt that this modus operandi is similar to that which has
been used at the Ministry of Home Affairs. It has been established that the
fraudsters collude with government officials in order to get a blank document,
which they then reproduce and use in their illicit activities.
Document
Upon reproduction of the document, the fraudsters reportedly get names of
individuals who were admitted to bail and whose trials are dragging in the
courts. According to sources, the tricksters target deceased individuals, who
had been admitted to bail and whose cases had taken too long to be concluded. 
They also target individuals whose cases were concluded, but nobody claimed
their money back, probably due to lack of knowledge, that they were entitled to
do so. The fraudsters reportedly work with personnel within the Judiciary and
also at the Treasury Department. It is supposed that their contacts at the
Treasury Department share information on monies which have not been claimed by
those who were granted bail.
It was established that their links in the Judiciary offered them the documents
for reproduction purposes.  It was also supposed that the fraudsters’ contacts
in the Judiciary further assisted them to facilitate the process of claiming
back the unclaimed bail money. The process of claiming back the bail money
entails approaching the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs at the
High Court for an application, which is then sent to the Accounts Department of
the High Court for approval, before being taken to the Treasury Department. It
has been gathered that the fraudsters have been bypassing this process and
approaching the Treasury Department after counterfeiting the documents. In one
of the fraudulent acts, the tricksters are said to have claimed E5 000 from the
Treasury Department belonging to an accused, who was out on bail.
It was said the can of worms in this scheme of fraud was uncovered when the
accused, whose case was completed and was found not guilty, went to claim his
bail money.
However, the individual was informed that the money had been claimed and this
matter was reported to the police. Police under the Fraud Department of the
Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS), instituted investigations. This
publication has gathered that over seven civil servants deployed under the
Prince Simelane-led Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, were
questioned by law enforcers over these fraudulent acts. In various instances,
this publication reported on the duplication of government documents by various
entities.  The counterfeiting of the documents included; the Eswatini Revenue
Service (ERS) tax clearance certificate; Ministry of Public Works and Transport
public transport permits; Ministry of Finance import permits and bank statements
in order to reflect higher bank balances, which is a prerequisite for applying
for an international passport.
Investigation
These investigation follows another by this publication, which resulted in the
arrest of over 25 people for forging bank statements in their quest to secure
international passports.
The arrests came about as this publication reported that tricksters were taking
advantage of the demand for international passports, as many emaSwati are
seeking recruitment abroad.
The investigation of the clandestine forgery of State documents has also seen
the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) investigating the Ministry of Home Affairs
officials and 10 arrests are said to be looming. The anticipated arrests of the
officials in the ministry and other suspects, who acted as agents in the forging
of government documents, had their genesis when a Zimbabwean national, Delight
Moyo, was arrested by the police under the Serious Crimes Unit.
He was suspected to have been the middleman between some of the immigration
officers and ‘customers’ who needed passports. This led to an investigation
into fraudulent activities at Home Affairs, which uncovered that most government
services were offered in the backyard of some civil servants’ places of abode.
The police followed tips on allegations that there was a syndicate milking the
State of hundreds of thousands of Emalangeni, as they rendered services of the
ministry from their home backyards.
Selling
The investigators reportedly found that some civil servants were selling
government documents, such as birth certificates, national identity documents
(IDs), marriage certificates, travel documents, international passports, visas
and work permits. Sources said the documents were found at the residences of
some civil servants. Along with the documents, it was said the police also found
government stamps, which were used in ‘authenticating’ the fraudulent
paperwork. The sources supposed that some of the civil servants deployed at the
Ministry of Home Affairs had a big clientele among people of Asian origin and
from some north-eastern African countries. According to the sources, the modus
operandi of the decadent civil servants was that they dealt with agents who
informed them of people in need of these documents.
Thereon, it was said the civil servants would in turn bring the documents to
their residences, where they were picked up by the ‘clients’. It was said
some of the civil servants were also found with blank documents, which were said
to be filled per order. Also, recently this publication reported that Eswatini
will continue to be broke as local documents used to generate revenue for the
country were fraudulently sold in South Africa, in a new scam. This scam sees
documents, such as those used in the registration of cars, like the blue book,
registration tax discs and registration plates, being sold in South Africa.
Vehicles
The sale of these revenue generating documents, deprives the country of millions
of Emalangeni, generated from the collection of tax during the registration
process of imported vehicles.
Ordinarily, when an import car is registered in the country, the ERS collects 14
per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) and also charges 25 per cent duties, which is a
contribution to the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) pool by the country.
The contribution to SACU enhances the percentage accumulated by the country
quarterly from the union. This money contributes to the country’s coffers as
the annual budget for government relies on these contributions among other
sources of revenue. Meanwhile, Chief Police Information and Communications
Officer Senior Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed that the police were
investigating a case of fraud linked to the claiming of bail money.