MINISTER NEAL TO TESTIFY AGAINST EX-FSRA CEO ‘CHIEF’

MBABANE - Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg will testify against former FSRA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sandile Chief Dlamini.  

The minister has been listed among the 14 witnesses, who will testify in the matter, in which it is alleged that Escalator and/or Ecsponent, allegedly made a payment of E117 000 into Sandile’s bank account. The former Financial Service Regulatory Authority (FSRA) CEO, who is currently out on bail, was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on charges of corruption. He is facing seven charges. The charges against Sandile emanate from the registration of Ecsponent and Status Capital Building Society, which saw a number of emaSwati losing a total of E340 million of their combined investments. It is alleged that Sandile abused his powers in the registration of Ecsponent and Status Capital Building Society. He is accused of further accepting a payment of E117 000 from Escalator/Ecsponent.

Evidence

In the summary of evidence attached to Sandile’s indictment filed by Acting Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Lomvula Hlophe, the Finance minister is expected to narrate to the court how he got to know about the registration of Status Capital Building Society. He is also expected to state what steps he took to ensure compliance with the law, before Ecsponent was registered. In his statement, which now forms part of the evidence, the minister stated that he recieved correspondence from FSRA, dated August 6, 2019, requesting for approval to register Status Capital as a building society. He narrated that on September 13, 2019, he responded and advised FSRA to do some vetting by consulting the Eswatini Financial Intelligence Unit (EFIU) and other relevant law enforcement agencies, and issue a clearance report on the entity and the subscribers of the shares.

License

He went on to state that FRSA responded by advising him that it had the responsibility to register a building society and, thereafter, license it as an authorised financial services provider.
“Witness (minister) will further tell the court that he approved the registration of Status Capital Building Society on October 25, 2019. “However, FSRA issued the licence certificate for Status Capital Building Society on October 11, 2019,” reads part of the minister’s evidence. Others to be paraded as witnesses are former FSRA employees and some of its senior managers. The Crown also lined up former and current FSRA employees, who held managerial positions, to testify in the matter.

They will detail to the court how Sandile allegedly threw his weight to ensure that Status Capital Building Society was registered, despite not having followed the laid down procedures.
According to the evidence, despite advice from his subordinates, the accused (Sandile) told them that he would license Status Capital Building Society. In his statement, Bukhosi Dlamini, who was employed as a General Manager responsible for the Credit and Savings Institutions (CSI), is expected to testify on the functions of the CSI and the processes to be followed in the registration of building societies.

He will tell the court that during the year 2019, FSRA, through the Office of the CEO, allegedly received an application for registration of Status Capital as a building society. Bukhosi alleged that Sandile forwarded the application to his office and he (Bukhosi) checked same and forwarded it to the manager of Credit and Savings Institutions. According to Bukhosi, the application by Status Capital Building Society was processed by his (Bukhosi) team and made recommendation for its registration through the CEO, who at that time was Sandile.  He alleged that the accused then wrote a letter to the minister of Finance seeking approval to register Status Capital as a building society.“The minister declined to grant authority to the registration. The minister advised the accused to engage Eswatini Financial Intelligence Unit (EFIU) and other relevant law enforcement agencies before the Ministry of Finance could consider granting the approval,” reads his summary of evidence.

Testify

Bukhosi is also expected to testify that during a discussion, Sandile enquired as to what could stop them from issuing Status Capital with the licence.  He alleged that the former CEO ordered them to grant Status Capital the licence as he would speak to the minister of Finance about the matter during the Spring meeting, which was to be held in the United States of America.  According to Bukhosi, the accused then requested all the documentation that had been filed by Status Capital in support of their application. “The witness (Bukhosi) will further tell the court that they then returned to their respective offices and he delayed carrying out the order from the accused hoping he would change his mind about issuing the licence without the proper procedure being followed.

“After a few minutes, the witness got a call from the accused asking about the printing of the licence. The witness then instructed Themba to instruct Welile to print the licence.  “After it was printed, the witness took it to the accused, who was still with Status Capital representatives for his signature,” he continued. He will further tell court that the issuing of a building society licence to Status Capital was not normal as its registration was not complete and the assessment process of the application for a licence had not been properly done. Another witness to testify in the matter is Samkelo Dlamini, who is a former FSRA employee.In his summary of evidence, Samkelo narrated what transpired during a meeting held on October 11, 2019.

Advised

Samkelo is expected to tell the court, among other things, that during the meeting, they advised Sandile that it was not appropriate to licence Status Capital because of many issues raised, which were statutory capital and fitness as well as probity of one Edwin Soonius. “Despite their advice, the accused told them he would license Status Capital. After the meeting the accused instructed one of the employees to prepare the licence for his signature together with a letter to Status Capital, informing them of the documents which were still outstanding.”
These are allegations whose veracity is still to be tested in court and the accused is yet to present his side of the story when during the trial.

He will further tell the court that the whole process of registering and licensing Status Capital was flouted as due process was not followed as a result of Sandile’s purported interference and breach of the law. Also, to take to the witness stand is Simanga Mduli. He was employed as a Financial Analyst in the Capital Markets Department of FSRA.  

Expected

He is expected to tell the court that he was holding the aforementioned position when Escalator Capital, which later changed its name to Ecsponent, submitted its application for a licence.
He will testify that the Capital Markets Department shared office space with the Swaziland Stock Exchange (SSX) and during that period, the latter was investigating the Sharemax scandal. One of the officers of SSX reportedly noticed that the product that Escalator Capital was purporting to market was similar in structure to that of Sharemax.  “It was further discovered that some of the senior leaders of Escalator Capital had worked at Sharemax and Isambulo (a broker for Sharemax).

“The witness will tell the court that due to the above-cited issues, Escalator Capital’s application was declined by the general manager.  “Escalator Capital then appealed to the accused, who instructed the Capital Markets Department to issue the licence,” alleged Mdlulli in his statement, which has been filed in court.

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