MBABANE:King Mswati is allegedly receiving R100million from public funds for his Palaces renovations but, documents leaked from the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development suggest that, he also receives about R40million from Republic of China on Taiwan for the same service in what appears to be a bribe disguised as a grant for security upgrades.
An independent investigation conducted by this Swaziland News uncovered that,the R40million is an alleged bribe paid to the King by the Chinese Province for his consistent advocacy for Taiwan to be recognized by the United Nations(UN) an independent State.
Worth-noting,the United Nations(UN) General Assembly previously passed Resolution 2758 of 1971 that recognized the One China Principle and this means, according to the UN Resolution,Taiwan is and remains the province of China.
A document obtained by this publication this week from the Ministry of Finance that influenced the current budget suggests that, Taiwan ‘legitimate’ funding is normally included in the budget under ‘funding code 70’ but surprisingly,the R40million was secretly processed through the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development and laundered to the King via the Ministry of Defense and State Security.
Reached for comments on Friday afternoon, Mlungisi Makhanya, the President of the People’s United Democratic Movement(PUDEMO) accused King Mswati of using the Sovereignty of the country to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan for personal benefit.
“As PUDEMO we are not surprised,we are hoping that, these exposed information will help Swazis even realize more that we do no have have a King.What we have is a diplomatic askari who uses the fact that he is temporarily presiding over a Sovereign State that can establish diplomatic relations with other Nations to prostitute himself for Dollar diplomacy.Taiwan pays the King to continue to recognize an imaginary State of Taiwan which is a part of the People’s Republic of China(PRC) for a fee. What this represents for the ordinary people of Swaziland is misery as you would see that, the people of Gege are today without homesteads because a Taiwanese engineered economic interest has led to them being evicted. We want to remind our people that, it must never be lost to them that, when the Royal Science Technology Park was to be constructed,emaSwati were violently and forcefully evicted there in a very cruel manner and that project, Swazis would remember, is being bankrolled by Taiwan”, said the PUDEMO President.
Jeremy Liang the Taiwan Ambassador declined to comment about the latest developments.
Documents in possession of this publication further suggests that,on or around 04 October 2022, a few hours after King Mswati returned from the United Nations(UN) General Assembly, Major General Collen Lasco, the Head of Royal Close Protection Unit(RCPU) prepared ‘disguised’ documentation to facilitate the release of the alleged bribe from Taiwan through it’s Embassy in eSwatini.
Major General Lasco who had travelled with the King to the United Nations(UN), prepared and signed what appeared to be ‘quotations’ amounting to $2,289,345.00(about R40million) with State Security ‘letterheads’ for the provision of security upgrade services at Hlane Royal Residence.
“The Royal Close Protection Unit kindly request your innovative office to facilitate the acquisition of funds to upgrade the security system with digital surveillance and Baracks extension at the Hlane Royal Residence,”reads a letter signed by Major General Lasco.
Reached for comments earlier Percy Simelane, the King’s Spokesperson urged this investigative journalist to send him some documentary evidence substantiating the allegations, so he could provide an informed comment.
The King’s Spokesperson said even if the handshake was all cash, there should be a paperwork even in the smallest ways.
“Even if the alleged handshake was all cash there should be paperwork even in the smallest of ways. May we kindly request that we be furnished with the transaction evidence,” said the King’s Spokesperson
As per the request, the documents allegedly disguising the bribe were sent to the King’s Spokesperson and Simelane subsequently disputed that these documents were meant to facilitate the alleged bribe.
“Thank you(sic) kindly for the request of funding letters.We however do not take us to the handshake evidence we were looking for.The letters in question conform to Government House Style for requesting for financial assistance from its development partners and we have no reasons to believe they were agents of alteria motives,”said the King’s Spokesperson.
Simelane did not clarify why the King now receives money from Taiwan for security upgrades when Parliament approved and released a multibillion royal budget.
But an insider who shared a highly confidential document, confirming the chain of communication between Mswati’s Government and the Taiwanese Embassy when facilitating the bribe, told this publication that the King demanded his payment shortly after returning from the UN General Assembly.
“As you can see in the documents, the facilitation of the payment was rushed because the King said he wanted his money urgently after delivering the speech. Previously the payment was US$1,000,000,00(about R18million), it was then increased to US$2,000.000.00”, said the royal insider.
On another note, King Mswati is highly expected to travel to Taiwan to attend the inauguration of Taiwan President-elect William Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party.
King Mswati.