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By ALEC LUSHABA Editor | 2019-10-07
GOVERNMENT, through the Asset Recovery unit in the ministry of justice and constitutional affairs, has seized or preserved assets worth over E5 million.
This has been achieved within months of establishing an Assets Recovery Unit using the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA) of 2018.
Amongst the assets forfeited to the State includes cash amounting to E896 042.26, liquor and cigarettes worth E757 164 and E440 210.20 respectively.
Other assets under preservation include 18 vehicles, amongst them a Hino truck, white Toyota Quantum, navy blue Toyota Ipsum , Nissun Sunny, Honda fit, Toyota Alteeza sedan (blue), BMW 325 (blue) sedan and Honda Civic to name but a few.
Criminals
The Observer can reveal that other seized assets include houses located both in rural and urban areas.
Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Pholile Shakantu said assets forfeiture is a distinct process from criminal proceedings.
She said proceeds of criminal activity would be traced and forfeited to the State.
Minister Shakantu said this was one of several initiatives to be rolled out in the fight against organised crime and corruption.
It is said that at the first meeting of the Asset Recovery Committee held on the 19th September, the minister reported that due to the limited resources, she had assembled a temporal structure within the ministry to function as the Asset Recovery Unit.
She reported that the unit had done a considerable amount of work in its short time in operation. Shakantu commended the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Phila Dlamini and the Asset Forfeiture Unit for the good work they have done so far.
Cash
She reported that a number of assets were in preservation.
The minister said the assets would be sold and the proceeds deposited in the Assets Forfeiture account that has been opened at the Central Bank.
“Cash forfeited and cash under preservation is also kept at the bank not with staff or investigators. There are several houses under preservation including houses on Swazi Nation Land. Once the legal proceedings are concluded, the committee will decide what to do with them. The money collected will be used to fight crime,” she said.
The minister explained that in civil forfeiture a criminal conviction is not necessary.
“The legal action is in rem- that is, directly against property, not against the person. The person in possession or owning the property is given an opportunity to explain how they acquired the property before it is forfeited. This law also targets instrumentalities of crime and tainted property. Setting up the unit is our response to the public outcry about corruption voiced during Sibaya. The Forfeiture Unit is our weapon to take the profit out of crime and corruption,” Shakantu stated.
The minister established the Assets Recovery Fund in March, in accordance with Section 65 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
The minister has also appointed an accounting officer who is mandated to open an account with the Central Bank of Eswatini, which account is to receive all monies derived from asset recovery.
The accounting officer is accountable to the Criminal Asset Recovery Committee which is established in terms of the Act.
The Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA) was passed in 2018, following Conventions that have been signed by the country calling upon countries to fight corruption and organised crime through asset recovery.
“The passing of POCA marks a new era in the fight against corruption and organised crime in the Kingdom of Eswatini. The country has in the past concentrated on criminal sanctions in the fight against crime and corruption. Criminals have found sophisticated ways of evading criminal sanctions.
Justice
The establishment of an Asset Recovery Fund is an additional way of fighting crime and corruption by taking away the benefits and proceeds of crime. The rationale behind asset forfeiture is that if criminals are deprived of the incentive to commit a crime or engage in corruption they will stop doing so,” the justice and constitutional affairs minister explained.
The minister further stated that the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and psychotropic Substances 1988 (Vienna Convention ) calls upon state parties to put into place measures in order to provide for the confiscation of proceeds and instrumentalities of drugs and related criminal activity.
She said Eswatini ratified or made a formal confirmation of the Vienna Convention on the in October 1995.
Shakantu said the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (the TOC Convention) was signed by the Kingdom in 2000 and the United Nations Convention against Corruption was signed in September 2012.
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