‘WE DID NOT WANT TO BE PART OF THAT MONEY’

MBABANE – While everybody normally runs to where the money is, SEDCO decided to run the other way when an amount of E1.4 million made its way into the country.

The money had been donated by the Embassy of Qatar, through the alliance of SEDCO and Traders Link, a company owned by Nigerian businessman Fred Ngeri.

SEDCO stands for Small Enterprises Development Company and is a parastatal under the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade. This is the same money that later attracted the attention of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Early last year, SEDCO and Traders Link entered into a partnership and signed a Service Level Agreement after being introduced to one another by the Ministry of Commerce. In terms of the agreement, the two parties were assigned certain obligations in order to get Traders Link up and running, while keeping the partnership alive.

It was also agreed that a joint account would be opened and operated by both parties. As time went on, the relationship between the two companies allegedly became sour and each party started operating on its own. Traders Link started to look for other partners and eventually teamed up with the Embassy of Qatar. It sought funding and eventually got a donation of E1.4 million from the embassy.

However, it has now emerged that this is the same money that further strained relations between the two companies.
The money was donated before the joint account could be opened in terms of the Service Level Agreement.

SEDCO decided to chicken out from the partnership after realising that the money would be deposited into an account unknown to it, since the joint account had not yet been opened.

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