MBABANE – The PAC has recommended that George Manyere, Dave van Niekerk and FSRA should pay the principal amount of the investments that were made through Ecsponent.
Van Niekerk is also accused of controlling the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE). This is contained in a report of the Parliament Select Committee that was appointed by the House of Assembly to scrutinise and analyse the Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr INC (CDH) Forensic Report on the lost millions through Ecsponent investment scheme. The report was tabled by the Chairperson of the committee, Deputy Speaker Madala Mhlanga, on Monday, in Parliament.
Report
The committee was selected a month ago, after the Minister for Finance, Neal Rijkenberg tabled a forensic report on what transpired in Ecsponent, which later became known as Eswatini Investment Group (ESWIG), which led to over E335 million principal investments belonging to emaSwati disappearing. In the tabled report, the committee met with over 15 stakeholders, including South African national, Van Niekerk, who is cited many times in the Ecsponent saga, George Manyere, who is a former Ecsponent Chief Executive Officer and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), which licensed Ecsponent and other investment entities that are linked to the losses.
The Select Committee has presented two options that the Ecsponent investors should explore to recover the lost funds. The committee highlighted that due to the complexity of the transactions and company structures, it may be challenging to establish a direct claim against Manyere and Tim Nuy, finclusion and the MHMK Group, which was founded by Manyere.
According to the committee’s recommendations, the investors could only recoup their principal investments, not the interests of the investments. “There are two choices on the pathway of the Committee’s work, on which the investors would have to pronounce themselves and that cannot be overlooked.
“They are as follows:
“Whether the legal processes involving lawsuits and counter lawsuits should be given space, no matter how long it takes, to bring this matter to finality. “The other way is that the House assigns the minister for Finance, working with the CBE governor, to set in motion a model that will get all the two major stakeholder’s companies on the matter involving Manyere and Van Niekerk; FSRA and others, to at least pay back the principal amounts paid by the investors into Ecsponent Eswatini. The issues of accrual of interest due to investors may be handled separately,” stated the committee.
The committee added that it had been brought to their attention that Eswatini Investment Group (ESWIG) has given notice to FSRA that they will not be renewing their investment licence, which expired on December 31, 2023. This means the recovery of the funds is at stake. “The FSRA should play its role in ensuring that ESWIG does not exit the financial system while the Ecsponent saga is still pending,” stated the committee.
Liquidation
The committee also highlighted that as Ecsponent South Africa is facing liquidation, the liquidation process must be monitored jointly by the CBE and the FSRA, on behalf of the investors and contact must be made with the appointed liquidator, to enable them to submit and prove their claims at the creditors meeting. The committee further recommended that the minister for Finance should ensure that FSRA is sufficiently capacitated with a view to mitigate the recognised risks in the non-banking financial services sector, including properly regulating and monitoring the financial system leading to managing the risks of regulatory arbitrage.
During the engagements with the committee FINCLUSION CEO Nuy and Manyeru alleged that the CBE was controlled by Van Niekerk. According to submissions that were made by the stakeholders before the committee, there had been attempts to challenge the forensic report that was conducted by CDH. Nuy told the committee that there had been paid adverts of an alleged summary of this report, which challenged the requisition of CDH to conduct the forensic report. “Also, the Central Bank of Eswatini on websites, appears to be directly or indirectly controlled by Mr Dave van Niekerk (www.davevanniekerk.com and https://ecsponentexposed.africa/),” he said. Manyere also submitted that there have been paid adverts of an alleged summary of the report – which they have challenged with CDH.
“As per the attached letter – they indicate they have not shared any information other than with the client. Beyond the paid advertisement – there has been further publications of a summary of this alleged report presented as coming from the Central Bank of Eswatini on websites that appear to be directly or indirectly controlled by Dave van Niekerk (www.davevanniekerk.com and https://ecsponentexposed.africa/),” he said.
