By Lwazi Dlamini
Investors in Ecsponent (Pty) Limited have expressed deep concerns that the forensic report on their missing E340 million has been significantly altered.
The forensic investigation, conducted by Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr Inc. Auditing Consultants at the request of the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE), was intended to review the financial activities of Ecsponent Swaziland Limited (now ESW Investment Group).
This investigation aimed to address issues related to investment activities, money lending, financial stability, and risk management, following a parliamentary resolution to uncover the reasons behind Ecsponent’s failure to meet its investment obligations.
Two months after the report was finalized, the Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg tabled the report in Parliament a fortnight ago but it is yet to be debated and adopted by the Members of Parliament.
The Investors in Ecsponent have alleged that the report is heavily redacted. Redaction involves obscuring parts of a document before its release, which in this case has resulted in crucial information being concealed.
The 195-page report submitted to Parliament has significant sections blacked out, including the names of individuals who failed to meet their financial obligations and details of interviews conducted during the investigation.
Suspicion over the report’s completeness arose a month prior to its public release. Investors now feel that they have been misled.
Sandile Mbhamali, founding Director of the Likhwane Beneficiary Fund which invested E63 million on behalf of orphaned minors, stated,
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“The forensic report was supposed to focus on uncovering the facts surrounding Ecsponent’s collapse to help the investors recover their funds.
However, the report seems to have deviated from its purpose, focusing instead on the motives behind our investment decisions rather than tracing the funds.”
Mbhamali further criticized the report, noting, “Rather than clarifying the fate of the funds, the report raises additional questions and unjustly implicates our fund, without addressing the core issue of the funds’ ultimate destination. This is both problematic and counterproductive.”
Norman Dlamini, Chairperson of ESW’s Investor Relations Committee (IRC), remarked, “We do not accept this redacted report.
Besides the extensive redactions, the financial accounts of key suspects were not investigated, and no explanation was provided for this oversight.
” Dlamini highlighted pages 19 to 22 of the report, which outline the investigation’s limitations, stating that important information and interviews were not obtained or scheduled.
“These limitations are critical to the investigation and should have been addressed. The failure to interview key individuals renders the report incomplete,” he said.
The IRC has announced that its legal actions are separate from the CDH forensic process.
They are committed to holding accountable those implicated in the misappropriation of funds through legal proceedings.
Dlamini added, “We will formally write to request an un-redacted copy of the report from the CBE Governor Phil Mnisi and plan to collaborate with the parliamentarians before our court appearance on September 3. We anticipate that the MPs will thoroughly examine the report.”
Former Speaker of Parliament, Petros Mavimbela, also affected by the Ecsponent scandal, has indicated that the matter will be discussed in Parliament soon. He criticized the redaction as an anomaly.
One of the highlights of the forensic report was that between 2014 and 2023, Ecsponent Eswatini paid a sum of E208 575 003.50 to GetBucks Eswatini.
The report recommended that GetBucks Eswatini must pay back a sum of E106 699 382.57 to Ecsponent Eswatini.
