By SIFISO DLAMINI | 2024-12-05

GETBUCKS Eswatini has called for additional forensic audits of Ecsponent Eswatini sister companies to adequately trace where the funds were transferred and utilised in South Africa.

GetBucks Eswatini noted the need for additional forensic reports to be undertaken on Ecsponent related companies such as VSS. the reports must also be reviewed and a holistic picture drawn on how local funds were channelled and ultimately utilised in SA.

Despite the efforts undertaken by the House of Assembly Select Committee mandated to scrutinise and analyse the Cliff Dekker Hofmeyr Inc forensic report, their findings and recommendations were limited as they only traced where the funds were transferred to in SA.

Select Committee Chairman Deputy Speaker Madala Mhlanga said the only money trail they had was with regards to which sister companies the funds were transferred to.

He said they could not trace the funds any further since they had no authority to summon the sister companies’ financial records.

When making their submissions before the committee, GetBucks Eswatini said the forensic report conducted by JKD Consulting should be considered by parliament alongside the CDH report as the latter does not illustrate proper paper trail of the investors’ money.

They advised that constructive and value adding recommendations from both reports should be pursued.

According to previous reports, the JKD Consultants report differed with the CDH report as it managed to summon accounts of all the players involved and was able to trace how the monies were siphoned and embezzled.

The report detailed the circulation of e-mails between the parties involved which showed that the subscription agreement between MyBucks, VSS and Ecsponent was signed in July, 2018 and back dated to reflect the effective agreement date of January 3, 2018.

Back dating of legal documents could be considered as fraud and if the backdated document misleads a third party or gives a false impression about when an action was taken, it may be fraudulent when considering the intention of the parties.

When making their submissions on the conduct of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), GetBucks submitted that a major weakness was around how FSRA operated.

They submitted that the concerns on the operations of FSRA had been raised with the Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg since 2020, on the need to emulate qualitative standards that had worked in various countries in the region, of placing the non-bank financial regulation under the Central Bank, which in most instances had the capacity to regulate the financial services industry effectively.

GetBucks Eswatini doubted that FSRA in its current set up and composition, had the capacity and competence in the issuance of licensing and development of Ecsponent Eswatini since 2013 and the licensing and activities of Status Capital Building Society Eswatini.

They further suggested that the board oversight and whistleblowing capabilities within the FSRA structure  should be strengthened so that the abuse of power displayed by senior staff could be effectively and expeditiously addressed.

Suggesting how best could  investors’ money be recovered, GetBucks spoke to funds that were instantly transacted to South Africa and the need for investigation for ease of tracking the investors lost monies.

They felt that submissions by Tim Nuy of Finclusion should be urgently reviewed and incorporated into the review of the forensic reports, particularly given that Finclusion were never interviewed by the CDH process yet have valuable insights into how Eswatini monies were utilised as well as prospects of recovery.  

Adding, GetBuck said pursuit should be made up to VSS and action should be taken on the outcome of the forensic report that was done on VSS as it clearly showed significant areas of abuse of funds and accounting irregularities and all claims due to GetBucks South Africa in VSS should be ceded to GetBucks Eswatini for the benefit of the Emaswati investors and this claim should be thoroughly pursued.

“In addition to the VSS claim, legal action against PWC South Africa, the auditors of VSS, should be pursued urgently and without delay,” said GetBucks.

Responding to a question posed by the committee on what other related interventions could help leverage this situation, GetBucks Eswatini submitted that in addition to Edwin Soonius, the former country director of Ecsponent Eswatini, other former directors of Ecsponent Limited in South Africa who represented the listed company on the board of Ecsponent Eswatini should still be pursued to provide clarity on the operations of the company and to assist with tracing RSA based assets to aid the recovery process.

The former directors are Terence Gregory, Dirk van der Merwe and Antony Hay. GetBucks Eswatini submitted that an urgent investigation into Status Capital Building Society must be commissioned to establish linkages with the Ecsponent matter and to ensure that intervention into addressing this matter was timeously implemented.

share story          

Post Your Comments Below

---