MBABANE – Eswatini Financial Intelligence Unit (EFIU) manager, Gcinekile Mavimbela, has been arrested on charges related to the leak of over 890 000 financial records.
Mavimbela appeared before principal magistrate Fikile Nhlabatsi at the Mbabane Magistrates Court facing Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Prevention Act contravention charges.
Mavimbela, whose second appearance in court is expected on Thursday, was remanded out of custody. She had posted E5000 bail with other bail conditions.
The financial centre initially instituted an internal investigation following allegations of unauthorised disclosure of confidential information to a third party.
EFIU attracted media attention last year following the Swazi Secrets series reports by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The records reveal corporations and politicians involved in dubious deals.
The ICIJ had reported on numerous money laundering and gold smuggling activities that happen via Eswatini that go back to 2018. In one of these reports, the EFIU picked up more than E67 million transactions in November – December 2018 ‘made from a murky South African “cash-in-transit” company to Schofield, who then sent about the same amount to Mint of Eswatini in the SEZ, from where the money went on to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Eswatini’s authorities deemed the transactions suspicious.’
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