Home Affairs officer granted E100 000 bail
MBABANE – The Ministry of Home Affairs officer, who is accused of producing travel documents, 9ISAs and birth certificates fraudulently, has been granted E100 000 bail.
-udge Mumcy Dlamini yesterday ordered that Mboneni Zwane should pay the whole bail amount in cash, to be deposited at the Treasury Department.
2ne of the reasons for this bail condition, according to -udge Dlamini, is the gravity of the offences that Zwane allegedly committed.
The judge also said Eswatini was under a red flag from Interpol on the use of travel documents from other countries. These factors, according to the court, warranted strict bail conditions.
Zwane¶s charge sheet reflects 20 charges of fraud, five of theft and one of money laundering.
When opposing his bail application, the investigating officer informed the court that the International 3olice Agency (Interpol) had red-flagged Eswatini passports as they appeared to be tools used to assist criminals, who use them to seek asylum when they were in fact fugitives of justice. In one instance, according to the investigator, a Zimbabwean national was intercepted in Ireland, where he pretended to be seeking asylum yet he was a fugitive running away from double murder charges in Zimbabwe. “This will lead to Eswatini being sanctioned such that stiff requirements may be added when a person is travelling using an Eswatini passport.
“This will affect the country to the e[tent that potential investors will not want to invest in our country. It also taints the image of goodwill of the country at international level,´ he said.
The investigator also averred that Zwane was part of a syndicate on the theft of travel documents and passports from the Immigration Department in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
INVESTIGATION
In 2019, said the investigator, they received an anonymous report about a suspected syndicate that was involved in the issuance of these documents fraudulently. He said they opened an enquiry file and their investigation unearthed that Zwane was a suspect, and it was similar to the charges that he is currently facing. The accused is said to have been aware of the investigation since 2019. The investigating officers told the court that there was a syndicate, which manufactured identity cards, birth certificates, travel documents, permits and visas. “We then conducted our investigations which led to the arrest of the applicant (Zwane). We first came across information which led us to Delight Moyo, a Zimbabwean who was arrested for being found in possession of five passports. “All the pin numbers which appear on the passports were issued using the username of the applicant, hence he became a person of interest,´ reads the Crown¶s opposing papers. The investigators submitted that there were also other birth certificates belonging to 1igerians, which Zwane also allegedly produced through his user name. He averred that some of the documents would be produced at the regions through the syndicate and the accused was also linked to those cases.
The syndicate, according to the investigator, also operated in the 5epublic of South Africa ‘and he may elect to join them to continue his shenanigans¶.
“Also between 2ctober 2023 and -anuary 2024 the applicant through his First 1ational %ank account received money, which was deposited by people who are in the 5epublic of South Africa and it is highly possible that is the syndicate he is working with to commit criminal activities.´ The investigator further submitted that Zwane was found in possession of material used in the manufacture
of passports. He said he believed that the material was due to be delivered to the syndicate in the 5epublic of South Africa for illegal activities.
“During his arrest, he was found in possession of 19 birth certificates and he is aware that these birth certificates are under investigation and this may lead to his charges being added.
“Furthermore, the applicant received money totalling to E195 000 from people who made transfers in the 5epublic of South Africa. During his arrest he was in possession of 520 000 and E4 200 and he failed to give a legitimate source of the funds.
DOCUMENTS
“The money was stashed under the driver¶s seat in-between some government documents being a travel document, entry permit, three identity cards, birth certificate, barcode sheets and a confirmation of birth letter. All these item link him to the commission of the offences. The applicant was not supposed to be in personal possession of these documents while outside his work station,´ the court was told.
In motivating his plea to be released on bail, Zwane submitted that he was innocent of the charges against him. He denied committing the offences and stated that he would plead not guilty at trial. He also submitted that his defence was valid and solid. The accused disputed that he acted in furtherance of a common purpose with anyone to defraud the Ministry of Home Affairs, steal passports or utilise monies obtained through the commission of an offence as alleged. “I further dispute the allegation pertaining to money laundering. This charge is unsubstantiated and one can glean that it is just a bare allegation. “This equally applied to the allegations of theft, I never stole any passport and none was found in my possession,´ submitted Zwane.
Zwane also denied that he produced birth certificates with the intention to defraud as alleged. The accused went on to tell the court that it was devoid of the truth that he was part of the syndicate that was unlawfully issuing visas and passports. He further argued that the people who made the misrepresentations were known and he was being made a scapegoat. Zwane contended that, as much as he was employed in the Ministry of Home Affairs, he was not part of the people who were issuing passports and visas.