swaziland times

BABANE – Chief Justice Bheki Mapalala on Wednesday issued arrest warrants for seven immigration officers who were charged with 89 offences.
They are Njabulo Thembeka Thwala of Mpolonjeni, Mbekwa Carlo Ncongwane of Sidwashini and Dumsile Lukhele of Sigombeni. Others include Phumzile Mdluli of Ngwazini, Jean Khangezile Sitsebe of Nkoyoyo, Faith Sifiso Matse of Ngwenya and Ncobele Helen Dlamini of Siphocosini.They were charged with violating Section 3 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 2006. Some of them are senior officials, most of them are assistant immigration officers, employed by government departments under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
They were charged on the basis that they allegedly directly or indirectly provided and/or offered to benefit a number of foreigners by granting them registration and/or issuance of refugee identification numbers. They allegedly did this so that the foreigners could be recognized as refugees in Swaziland. The foreigners who allegedly benefited from the accused’s alleged corrupt practices are from African and overseas countries.

violation

According to the charges, the defendants are suspected of abusing their power, committing a breach of trust and violating statutory obligations and/or rules.Yesterday, members of the Royal Swaziland Police Service (REPS) and the Anti-Corruption Task Force launched a joint operation to round up all the suspects. The seven were arrested in different places in four regions of the country. The crimes are alleged to have occurred in Mbabane between November 2017 and March 2023. The majority of the crimes occurred in March 2023. The indictment shows that multiple crimes were committed in one day on certain days in March 2023.

defendant

The accused were charged with violating Section 42(1)(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act read with Section 42(2)(b)(i) or read with Section 42(2)(b)(ii).
Under section 42(1)(b) of the General Corruption Offences section, (1) Subject to subsection (2), any person who directly or indirectly – (b) gives, agrees to give or offers to give to any other person any advantage, whether for the benefit of that other person or any other person, commits a corruption offence and is liable on conviction to the punishment provided for in section 35(1). Subsection 2 provides that, in order to commit an offence under subsection 1, the conduct complained of must cause the person or influence another person to act in an unlawful, dishonest, unauthorised, incomplete or biased manner.

Section 42(2)(b)(i) requires that the conduct must amount to an abuse of power. Section 42(2)(b)(ii) requires that the conduct must amount to a breach of trust.
Article 35(1) provides for penalties, providing that a person who commits an offence under Articles 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 or 34 shall be punished by a fine not exceeding 100,000 Egyptian pounds or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, or by both.The arrest warrants have now been executed, bringing the number of people arrested in connection with the Home Office fraud to 10. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) recently reported that it is investigating 250 cases, one of which is the Ministry of Home Affairs case.
The seven people were arrested after Chief Justice Mahapalala issued arrest and search warrants for them on Wednesday. The Anti-Corruption Commission has filed an urgent application.
The search warrant was issued under Section 3 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 2006. The warrant authorizes the ACC officers to search the homestead of the suspected employee and further seize any material believed to be used in the commission of an offence.

syndicate

The seven defendants are believed to be part of a syndicate that sold refugee status and passports to foreigners.As of Wednesday afternoon, a team of ACC officers were rounding up some of the employees involved and were looking to take them into custody. Prior to the issuance of the arrest warrant, ACC and REPS were conducting parallel investigations on the same issue. The investigation into the matter began in 2022, when the Home Office launched an internal investigation into the sale of refugee identities and passports to foreigners. Investigations by the Anti-Corruption Commission and police reportedly uncovered a syndicate engaged in the trafficking of document identities and refugee passports. It was revealed that the group charges any undocumented citizen who wishes to be treated as an official refugee in the Kingdom of Swaziland between LE30,000 and LE50,000 to obtain new legal documents. More than 100 immigration officers were transferred last year as a result of the investigation.