SWEET MEMBERS GIVE CBE THUMBS-UP, WANT INVESTIGATIONS CONCLUDED

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.

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