The Ecsponent Task Team set up by Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg has roped in external expertise to initiate an asset recovery process to recoup over E340 million lost investor funds.
The ministry has assured the investors that they were tirelessly working towards recouping investments lost by over 1 000 Ecsponent investors following the collapse of the scheme.
The investors have raised concerns that the task team was allegedly holding information from them and they were unaware if the task team was working on the issue or not.
The investors expressed excitement and optimism following the setting up of the task team, however, recently, the investors are having doubts if they would recover the invested funds.
Investor Relations Committee (IRC) Chairman Norman Dlamini said subsequent to the adoption of the parliamentary select committee report, the minister met with the IRC members.
He said the minister informed them that he had put together a task team to facilitate the recovery of the funds.
Dlamini said they were initially in engagement with the team, but it was expected to meet on their own.
He said they were then expected to engage them after their meeting to set dates on when they would meet.
“The task teem seems to be holding information close to their chest and as investors we are left in the dark and we do not even know if they are working on the issue or not,” said Dlamini.
He said the Ecsponent issue involved the elderly who have retired and young children under Likhwane Beneficiary Fund. He said the affected people did not have the muscle or resources to pursue the matter on their own.
Ministry of Finance Communications Officer Setsabile Dlamini assured that the task team, consisting of representation from the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE), ministry of finance and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) has been meeting consistently.
She said the task team was carrying out its programme of action in line with its project plan, aimed at recouping the investments lost by Ecsponent investors.
Dlamini said detailed terms of reference for the task team, which include specific deliverables, projected timelines and anticipated risks and mitigatory measures were approved by the broader Ecsponent Recovery Committee.
The task team’s project plan included an asset recovery exercise in cross border jurisdictions and the task team has engaged external expertise to assist with the exercise.
“An asset recovery process is obviously complex and requires the use of multiple skills of forensic, legal and of a financial nature and the Ecsponent recovery exercise is certainly no exception to the complexity of such exercises,” she said.
Adding, Dlamini said the ministry of finance was working closely with the task team and receiving briefings on an on-going basis.
She said as a ministry, they were confident that the external expertise that has been engaged has the necessary competency and capacity to assist the task team, together with support from law enforcement agencies, to achieve its deliverables of recouping investor funds through an asset recovery process.
In November, 2024, the House of Assembly elected a select committee mandated to scrutinise and analyse the Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr Inc (CDH) forensic report.
The House thereafter tasked the minister, working with the Central Bank of Eswatini Governor Dr Phil Mnisi to set in motion, within three months, a model that would get the major stakeholders’ who include George Manyere, Dave van Niekerk, FSRA and others to, at least, repay the principal amounts paid by the investors into Ecsponent Eswatini.
Furthermore, the MPs resolved that the issues on the accrual of interest due to investors be handled separately.
The resolution was made after a lengthy debate of the report where a majority of the legislators submitted that government should compensate the investors since the E340 million was lost due to failure by the FSRA, a government entity, to protect the investors.
However, Attorney General, Sifiso Khumalo, clarified that there was no legal instrument binding government to repay the funds since they were not public funds.
Other legislators demanded that the persons who were behind the siphoning of the funds should be arrested and their accounts frozen to recover the funds.
