WHELPTON WANTS BANK ACCOUNTS UNFROZEN

MBABANE – South African law Professor, Frances Whelpton, wants the court to discharge the order authorising the State to continue freezing his bank accounts.

“The bank accounts, in respect of which the funds were attached, in the EswatiniBank and in Nedbank, were utilised as my personal bank accounts collectively for approximately 25 years,” Whelpton argued.

He further claimed that he had been using the bank accounts while on extended period of residence in Eswatini to attend to the recording of Swazi Law and Customs in terms of the instructions by His Majesty the King. According to Whelpton, he was a well- known person within the Kingdom of Eswatini and the subject accounts had been operated for a period of approximately 25 years.

Whelpton, who was previously reported to be a lecturer at UNISA, is the man who was once entrusted with the responsibility to recover a E28 million deposit for the purchase of the King’s jet. He also used to hold himself as the King’s personal advisor.

The investigations against the professor by the local police and their South African counterparts, started after it emerged that he allegedly used the kingdom and local banks to defraud a number of businesspeople, especially in the Republic of South Africa, in excess of E200 million.

The freezing of the bank accounts came after the director of public prosecutions (DPP) moved an application at the High Court in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crimes Act (POCA) 2018.  According to the Crown, as at September 25, 2019, Whelpton’s wife (Dannilla’s)  account had a credit balance of  E2 303 157.25.

In its application, the State submitted that, as per police investigations, it came to the fore that the professor was actually using the Kingdom of Eswatini as his playground and he used the local banks as instrumentality in making sure his schemes were successful.

In motivating the application, Principal Crown Counsel Elsie Matsebula submitted that the Crown sought to join (Dannilla) as the second respondent in the matter, because fresh intelligence had emerged, showing that she held a personal bank account with Nedbank Swaziland, which its transactions were highly suspicious.

Meanwhile, in his opposing affidavit, Whelpton submitted that he had been advised that the House Assembly of the Kingdom of Eswatini in or about July 2020, passed a motion. According to the deponent (Whelpton), in terms of the motion, the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs was allegedly ordered to suspend any arrests of persons found to have contravened POCA.  He averred that he was further informed that the motion would not only apply to any seizures and /or arrests already effected in terms of POCA prior to the motion having been carried.

Differentiation

“The differentiation between seizures and/or arrests effected prior to and after the motion having been carried, constitutes a violation of the equality principle  enshrined in Section 20 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Eswatini, which dictates that all persons shall be equal  before and under the law and shall enjoy equal protection  of the law,” he argued.

He contended that the application for this reason should fail and the interim order should be set aside with costs.

The professor highlighted that Section 43(1) (b) of  POCA provided that: “If the High Court makes a preservation of property order, the DPP shall, as soon as practicable after making of the order; publish a notice of the order in the gazette.

“I had a diligent search and an enquiry conducted and it appears that the order which was granted on May 22, 2020 was not published in the gazette,” averred Whelpton.

He claimed that the service of the application on him was only effected on September 16, 2020.

Whelpton asserted that the service of the application only on September 16, 2020, a mere approximately four months after date of order and the failure of the Crown to publish the order in the gazette at all, violated the peremptory obligation of the Crown to comply with Section 43(1).

“I also deem it apposite to give factual background of the history of my involvement with the Kingdom of Eswatini, which caused the events underlying the subject matter of the application before I reply seriatim to the founding affidavit by the Crown,” submitted Whelpton.

The professor argued the order to freeze his bank accounts should not have been granted. He also argued that the proceedings against him were allegedly initiated mala fide in an attempt to vilify his person and reputation in relation to the recording and codification of Swazi Law and Custom and the execution of the work for social upliftment that he had been doing in the kingdom for nearly 30 years.

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