Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg says he is optimistic that the lost E340 million that was invested into Ecsponent can be recovered within a year.
The minister said the task team set up to recover the funds was working around the clock to ensure that they recover as much as is possible.
The minister made the statement while responding to a question posed by Deputy Senate president Ndumiso Mdluli during the ministry’s first quarter performance debate by the senate portfolio committee on Tuesday.
The deputy senate president appreciated the effort made by the minister in recovering the funds. He acknowledged that the minister set up a task team to recover the funds and enquired about the status of the exercise.
“I recall that the minister set up the task team to facilitate the recovery of the funds, what is the status update at present,” enquired Mdluli.
In response, Minister Rijkenberg said following the House of Assembly resolution to facilitate the recovery of the funds, he set up a task team headed by the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) and comprises of officials from the ministry to evaluate how the funds could be recovered.
“We are trying our best to help the investors, hence setting up the task team,” he said. He said during the task team’s investigations, it was discovered that in the financials of Ecsponent and subsidiary companies there was fraudulent activity, which meant the funds could be recovered through the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) Act, 2006.
He said they felt that there was a high possibility to recover the funds and had engaged lawyers from Cape Town to assist the task team trace and recover the funds. He, however, cautioned that the recovery process would not be quick because they wanted to explore every possibility to recover as much of the funds as possible.
“This is not an easy process and it will take time, but we hope the investor funds can be recovered within a year,” he said.
He pleaded for patience from the investors as they continued with the recovery process. In early 2024, dozens of the investors, who attended the ESW Investment Group’s (ESWIG) Special General Meeting, expressed concern that efforts to recoup their lost investments were shot down.
The investors, who primarily comprise of pensioners, said they were disappointed to learn that ESWIG management did not receive support from the relevant stakeholders.
About 1 138 Emaswati lost their individual investments to the value of E340 million, which was reportedly siphoned out of the country by the directors of Ecsponent Limited.
A majority of the investors are well above 60 years old and are unable to enjoy their golden years because their savings were allegedly stolen.
culprits
Ecsponent was set up in Eswatini in 2014 and closed down in 2020 with the alleged culprits walking away with millions of Emalangeni
Following an outcry from Esponent investors who are mainly pensioners, the House of Assembly elected a select committee which was chaired by Deputy Speaker Madala Mhlanga to investigate how the funds were lost as well as make recommendations on how the investors could be assisted to recover the lost funds.
In November 2024, the select committee tabled a report, which had a recommendation for the minister of finance together with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) and the CBE Governor Dr Phil Mnisi to within three months facilitate the recovery of the lost funds.
In December 2024, Minister Rijkenberg set up the task team headed by the CBE governor to facilitate the recovery of the funds.
Seven months later, the task team, is still hard at work in a bid to recover these funds. During the debate of the select committee report, some Members of Parliament called for the arrest of Dave van Niekerk and George Manyere, who were allegedly the masterminds in siphoning the funds from the innocent Emaswati.
The minister of finance’s recent update can, however, offer a glimmer of hope that the funds will be recovered.
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