GOVT DOCUMENTS FORGERY: SYNDICATE NOW CLAIMS BAIL DEPOSITS

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.

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