NO ACTION TAKEN OVER ‘FAKE’ E3.8BN LOAN SIGNATURE

MBABANE – Despite claiming that documents insinuating that government signed a loan deal with an Austria financier might have been forged, no action has been taken.

Last week, our sister publication published documents, which Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg described as ‘suspicious’, purporting that government signed a loan deal of US$200 million (approximately E3.8 billion) with one of the largest private companies in Europe for the construction of the strategic oil reserve facility at Phuzumoya in the Lubombo Region.
The alleged fake documents have in them a name and signature purported to be that of Finance Principal Secretary Sizakele Dlamini who, however, said the documents were fake.

Contracts

She also pointed out that she was not mandated to sign government loan contracts as that responsibility was for the minister. However, despite that both the minister and the PS have boldly said the documents were fake and that the signature of the latter was forged, there has not been an effort made to have investigations conducted in order to ascertain as to who could be behind such an act. When this publication enquired on whether any action had been taken, the ministry’s Communications Officer Setsabile Dlamini said it was difficult to pursue the matter without information regarding the source of the letters. “We need to know where the letters came from,” she said.

Meanwhile, following the publishing of the ‘fake’ documents, the Eswatini National Petroleum Company (ENPC) issued a press statement stating that it was yet to sign a loan agreement for the construction of the oil reserve facility at Phuzumoya. Through its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nhlanhla Dlamini, the parastatal said it was incognisant of the said loan and that to the best of its knowledge, government had not signed a E3 billion loan agreement for the construction of the strategic fuel reserve facility. “The ENPC is yet to sign a loan agreement for the construction of the oil reserve facility as negotiations with financiers are underway. As stated by the ministry of Finance, the letters purporting to acknowledge the E3.8 billion loan l fake and malicious in nature, such conduct is frowned upon by the ENPC,” the CEO said. He also clarified reports that a private company, Kantey & Templer Eswatini had reportedly not stopped working on the project behind the scenes and that a foreign entity pledged to secure the project funding against the sovereign guarantee of about E900 million issued by the Government of Eswatini. Kantey & Templer is the company that was initially contracted by the Government of Eswatini for the construction of the facility but left the site when the works were already underway in 2017.

Elaborating on the clarity, the CEO said it was of paramount importance that stakeholders understood and were aligned with respect to the establishment and mandate of the ENPC which he said was mandated by the Petroleum Act No.18 of 2020 to identify, build, own and manage petroleum logistics investments including storage and handling terminals. As such, he said, no other company had a similar mandate in the country. He said central to the ENPC’s mandate was the construction of the strategic fuel reserve facility as a means to ensure the security of fuel supply. The target, the CEO said, was to commence construction of the 80 million litre fuel storage facility (60-day storage capacity) by the end of the current financial year. He said to the parastatal’s knowledge, the Government of Eswatini did not have any existing contract with Kantey Templer Eswatini for the project in question as same was terminated.

Directors

When the directors of Kantey & Templer were contacted by the Times SUNDAY on Wednesday, they stated that they had resolved not to respond to the press statement issued by the ENPC. “This is because this issue is being dealt with by the appropriate structures. Further be advised that the decision not to respond at this stage does not constitute a waiver of our rights to do so in due course,” the directors said. The ENPC is a Category A public enterprise whose mandate is to ensure fuel supply and security in the country, with the strategic oil reserve being the flagship project.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: