Swazi Media Commentary: Kuwait

Showing posts with label Kuwait. Show all posts

Friday, 20 November 2015

PROOF: SWAZI KING PAID FOR HIS JET

Documents revealed publicly for the first time on Friday (20 November 2015) confirm that King Mswati III of Swaziland personally paid US$9.5 million for a jet aircraft in 2012.

The government that he handpicked had publicly said the jet was donated by ‘development partners’.

The sale and purchase agreement contains the signature of King Mswati as the purchaser.

King Mswati, who rules the tiny impoverished kingdom of Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, has been at the at the centre of a public row over the purchase of the jet.

Last Friday (13 November 2015) the Mail and Guardian (M&G), a South-African based newspaper published details of the aircraft purchase on its website.

Most of the M&G report was not new. In April 2015, the Swazi Media Commentary website revealed details behind the purchase. It reported that the King’s own company Inchatsavane paid the US$9.5 million cost of the McDonnel Douglas McDonnell Douglas DC-9-87 (also known as an MD-87). Later, a further US$4.1 million was spent on refurbishing the plane.

The Sale and Purchase Agreement for the plane dated 18 April 2012 stated the purchaser as Inchatsavane Company (Pty) Ltd. The agreement describes Inchatsavane as a ‘limited company formed under the law of Swaziland under certification of incorporation No 581 of 2010.’ The company’s office address is given as ‘1^st Floor, Ellerines Building, Swazi Plaza, [Mbabane], Swaziland.’

King Mswati’s signature appears on the document as ‘sole shareholder / owner’ of the company. For the first time Swazi Media Commentary has released a copy of the document online.

The seller is given as Wells Fargo Bank Northwest, National Association, ‘not in its individual capacity but solely as owner trustee’.

A Bank of America Wire Transfer dated 26 April 2012, shows US$9.5 million dollars was transferred from the account of ‘His Majesty King Mswati III’, bank account number 0240037517401, at the Standard Bank Swaziland Ltd, Stanbic House, Swazi Plaza, Mbabane, Swaziland.

Swazi Media Commentary has also released online a copy of the bank transfer.

The money was transferred to McAfee and Taft escrow account in the United States. An ‘escrow’ account is a bank account for keeping money that is the property of others.

Under US law funds wired to an escrow account must come directly from the purchaser and not a parent, subsidiary, related company, officer, governor or director. King Mswati personally signed the escrow agreement. Swazi Media Commentary has for the first time released a copy of this document online.

What is not clear is where King Mswati got the money to pay for the jet. In 2012, the Swazi Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini, who was personally appointed to office by the King, said on government-controlled radio that the King had been given the jet as a birthday gift, ‘from development partners and friends of the King, to be used by their majesties for travels abroad’.

The Swazi Government denied public money had been used to buy the jet. Government spokesperson Percy Simelane was reported by the BBC saying the jet was a gift to the King from, ‘people already involved in the social and economic development of the country’.

There has been speculation that the jet was donated by Kuwait, but if this was the case it has not been explained why the oil-rich state made the gift and what it expected in return.

In April 2012, the Swazi Government categorically denied that the plane was donated by the Kuwait Government.

It issued a statement saying, ‘It is true that His Majesty the King received a gift in the form of a Mcdonnell DC-9 Aircraft for his and the Queen Mother’s travels abroad on engagement on national interest.

‘It is also true that the sponsors of this magnificent gift, exercising their rights, elected to remain anonymous.

‘It is not true that the Kuwait Government or countries and companies mentioned in the South Africa media purchased the aircraft for His Majesty the King or contributed in any form whatsoever towards this present.’

Seven in ten of the King’s 1.3 million subjects live in abject poverty, with incomes of less than US$2 per day, three in ten are so hungry they are medically diagnosed as malnourished and the kingdom has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world.

Thursday, 23 February 2012

CASH SCANDAL AT KUWAIT EMBASSY

Cash amounting to nearly E1.1 million (US$143,000) has gone unaccounted for at Swaziland’s embassy in Kuwait, putting the spotlight back on Phesheya Dlamini, who was recalled as ambassador in 2010.

The Acting Swaziland Auditor General Phestecia Nxumalo, in a report found that E434,000 of ‘petty cash’ and E654, 000 in the ambassador’s travel allowances could not be accounted for. The ‘petty cash’ went missing over a three-month period in 2009. The report was for the year ended 31 March 2011.

The A-G’s report was revealed by the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper. It said the A-G found receipts for the expenditure were not available and this was illegal.

The newspaper did not reveal that in 2010 Dlamini was recalled from Kuwait to Swaziland amid accusations of his implication in a corruption scandal. He reportedly stayed at the top-class Ezulwini Sun, in one of the kingdom’s main tourist spots. According to the Swazi News at the time, he ran up a bill close to E100,000 (about US$10,000) .

Lutfo Dlamini, then Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, was also implicated in the corruption scandal.

At the time the Swaziland Solidarity Network reported that both men had been accused of stealing money from the Kuwaiti Royal Family intended for King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. The Swaziland Police were called in, but no official announcement of what they did was given. It is known that police were sent to pick Lutfo Dlamini up from his parent’s home and escort him to a meeting with Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini.

What happened next is clouded in secrecy. It seems King Maswati ordered both men to be sacked from their jobs, but they were later reinstated, allegedly on the instructions of King Mswati’s mother, causing a rift in the royal household.

Phesheya Dlamini returned to Kuwait. Lutfo Dlamini has since been moved from the Foreign Ministry to Labour and Social Affairs.

Monday, 12 September 2011

S AFRICA LOAN DEAL ‘GRINDS TO HALT’

Mail and Guardian, South Africa

9 September 2011

SOURCE

Bilateral talks about loan come to grinding halt

South African jitters about accountability for the R2.4-billion bailout are growing, but King Mswati III and other traditionalists are claiming that they reject its political-reform conditions.

South Africa announced on August 3 that it would lend the money to its cash-strapped neighbour, but more than a month later, nothing has been released and Swaziland is said to be tapping other sources, including the Kuwaiti and Qatari monarchies, for support.

This week the South African treasury said Swaziland had not yet signed the memorandum of understanding on the loan and no money would be transferred until the paperwork was complete.

Among the traditionalists who are agitating against the loan is Prince Mahlaba, a senior member of Liqoqo, Mswati's advisory council, who told the Times of Swaziland this week that the country's political system, the Tinkhundla, was not for sale.

"We won't die even if we don't get the money. We shall survive because of God. God gave us Tinkhundla and we won't trade it for R2.4-billion," Mahlaba said.

He was quoted as saying that democracy was "nonsense" and that "Tinkhundla and the monarchy should be praised for preserving peace".

Mandla Hlatshwayo, a founding member of the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations and former royal adviser, said this week that Mswati and the traditionalists were "having second thoughts about how prepared he is to be subjected to conditions of democracy and the unbanning of political parties. That's the source of this constipation."

"We know they are looking around for alternative sources of money.

"The prime minister has just been to Qatar. We understand there have been discussions with Saudia Arabia and Kuwait as well, and now talks are starting with Equatorial Guinea."

To read the full Mail and Guardian report, click here.

Wednesday, 9 February 2011

SWAZI PM - COME CLEAN ABOUT LUTFO

Would the Swaziland Government please come clean about Lutfo Dlamini.

Lutfo, the (now ex) Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, was sacked from Cabinet last month (January 2011) after his involvement in a corruption scandal involving money destined for King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, was uncovered.

But no government announcement of this has been made. Instead, we were officially told that Lutfo was off work sick until 31 January 2011.

That date has come and gone and he doesn’t appear to be back at work. The Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, reported today (9 February 2011), ‘Despite showing up in Parliament on Friday, Minister Dlamini had not reported for duty by Monday.’

Lutfo is cutting a forlorn figure around the Swaziland corridors of power. On Friday he attended the opening of parliament, but did not sit in the front row with cabinet members, ‘even though there were still seats available’, as the Swazi News, an independent newspaper, put it.

The paper reported that Lutfo ‘did not stay for the luncheon and left as soon as the ceremony was over at around 1:30pm.

‘He also did not go into the chambers were diplomats get a chance to greet His Majesty King Mswati III.’

Yesterday, Lutfo ‘mingled around’ with cabinet ministers before the regular weekly cabinet meeting.

According to the Swazi Observer, ‘it could not be ascertained’ whether he actually attended the meeting.

‘Some members of cabinet confirmed that Dlamini was there but refused to comment further,’ the newspaper reported.

But why the reluctance to ‘comment further?’

The Swazi Government’s official spokesperson was no help either. Macanjana Motsa told the Observer, ‘I am also not in a position to state whether the minister of foreign affairs was in cabinet or not. The Prime Minister is the one who can release that information, I have been trying to get hold of him and I am failing.’

Meanwhile, the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) yesterday released a further statement about Lutfo’s involvement in the scandal, which also involves Phesheya Dlamini, the Swaziland Ambassador to Kuwait. Click here.

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