GOVT: RECONSTRUCTION FUND FRAUD UNACCEPTABLE ABUSE

MANZINI - Government says the alleged fraudulent activities in the Reconstruction Fund are an unacceptable abuse to the kindness of His Majesty King Mswati III.

This was according to Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo, when responding to a questionnaire that was sent to him yesterday, following allegations that a syndicate by some Asian businesspeople was allegedly defrauding government and businesses through the Reconstruction Fund claims.He said as government, they preferred not to make a substantial comment for now since the matter was still under investigations by members of the country’s national security agencies of law enforcement.However, Nxumalo said on the surface, it appeared as if serious criminal tendencies and behaviour were displayed by some of the concerned parties. He said should the investigations confirm that the law was broken by some of the beneficiaries of the fund; the might of the law should take its full course, without favour or fear of the individuals involved. “This also, at another level, proves to be an unacceptable abuse to the benevolence and good initiatives of His Majesty the King, as the sole visionary of this particular fund,” Nxumalo said.

In that regard, he said government, therefore, discouraged such unbecoming and unethical business behaviour, if at all it would be proven to be true. The government spokesperson was asked what was the administration’s position regarding the reports suggesting that there were some foreign nationals who allegedly defrauded government through the Reconstruction Fund claims, which was launched by His Majesty King Mswati III to assist businesses that were affected during the June/July 2021 civil unrest.

Meetings

Meanwhile, a source within the Asian community living in the country, said they were still arranging meetings to deliberate on the matter internally, even though it was already being investigated by the police Fraud Department. According to the allegations, the purported syndicate is said to have allegedly forged some documents like invoices and police reports to escalate the claims and fraudulently registered some emaSwati as shareholders in their businesses in order to claim 60 per cent instead of the 40 per cent of the total claim, which they were supposed to get as foreign nationals. In the fund, businesses, which are owned by emaSwati, were given 60 per cent of the total claim, while those that were operated by foreign nationals were paid 40 per cent.In June/July 2021, there were protest actions across the country and they were carried out by people who were calling for political reforms and culminated into violence, vandalism and looting of private and public properties, including businesses, some of which were torched.

After that, the King launched the Reconstruction Fund (in September 2021) and government injected a start-up of E500 million. After it was launched, the fund received a contribution from Taiwan worth E330 million, as well as from a number of local businesses, including EswatiniBank, Public Service Pensions Fund (PSPF), Eswatini Royal Insurance Corporation (ESRIC), Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC), Montigny Investments, Dalcrue and Standard Bank Eswatini.

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