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DRUG DEALER PUT E900 500 INTO MY ACCOUNT - ‘MAJOR V’

09/02/2022 08:35:00 Mbongiseni Ndzimandze

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MBABANE - Outspoken Prophet Vusumuzi ‘Major V’ Dlamini reportedly told bank officials that an amount of E900 500 was ‘mysteriously’ deposited into his account at Swaziland Building Society (SBS) by a drug dealer who was transporting drugs from Mozambique to Johannesburg.

‘Major V’ whose real name is Vusumuzi Brother Dlamini, was explaining to the bank officials the source of the money after it did not reflect who had deposited it. When the prophet was first asked about the source of the money, he allegedly told the bank officials that it was deposited by his wife, but later changed tune to say it was deposited by a drug dealer he did not know. According to the bank officials, the clergyman further told them that the drug dealer asked him to open an account with Swaziland Building Society and give him the account number, which he did.

Explained

The prophet is alleged to have further explained that the drug dealer then made the deposit. He said he was not aware of the figure to be deposited and only learnt while at an automated teller machine (ATM) that it was a lot of money. Dlamini is alleged to have continued to tell the bank officials that he was unable to contact the sender of the money as he dealt with him once and decided to wait for his call to establish the method of payment he used as well as the proof of payment. Another explanation that was allegedly given by the man of the cloth pertaining to the source of the money, was that he worked with various people, praying for them for luck to get money, trafficking and evading criminal charges, hence they thanked him with large sums of money. These are allegations whos veracity is yet to be tested in court.

Swaziland Building Society yesterday moved an exparte urgent application after it discovered that Major V was disbursing the money in question to various accounts and other banks. Some of the money was transferred to Dlamini’s account held with First National Bank (FNB) Swaziland and Standard Bank Eswatini Limited. An exparte application is one that is filed without the knowledge of the other party. Judge Mzwandile Fakudze has since issued an interim order interdicting First National Bank from allowing any transfers of funds made by Dlamini to his account and other third parties on February 4, 2022 from account number 52000362621. He also directed Standard Bank Eswatini Limited to reverse and pay any monies it presently held in favour of Dlamini.

In his founding affidavit, the Managing Director (MD) of Swaziland Building Society, Mbali Sibanyoni, informed the court that despite stating that he (Dlamini) did not have any proof of deposit or transfer of the funds, ‘Major V’ was still demanding the two banks (First National Bank Swaziland and Standard Bank Eswatini Limited) to release the money to him. Giving a background of the matter, Sibanyoni narrated to the court that on February 2, 2022, the first respondent (Major V) approached the applicant’s (Swaziland Building Society) branch in Matsapha to open a special savings account. According to the MD, in this regard the prophet furnished information to one of the bank’s officials and then signed a customer information form. Sibanyoni said pursuant to the above, Dlamini then opened the special savings account and as per the procedure, he was required to make a cash deposit into the account and he duly made one of E500. This amount according to Sibanyoni, was then shown as a debit entry in the branch cash account.

The MD recounted that on February 4, 2021, the applicant’s Matsapha Branch Manager, Eric Gamedze, discovered that the account had an abnormal credit entry of E900 500 when reviewing a withdrawal of E10 000 made by ‘Major V’. “While going through the account, he (Eric) then realised that the first respondent had already made a number of withdrawals on that day,” submitted the MD. Swaziland Building Society was represented by Senior Lawyer Kenneth Motsa of Robinson Bertram. Sibanyoni stated that preliminary investigations by Swaziland Building Society are said to have shown that the credit entry of E900 500 into the account of ‘Major V’ was as a result of a system error. Sibanyoni informed the court that the preliminary investigations were conducted by Gamedze.

According to the MD, Gamedze then suspended the operation of the account, pending further investigations. Sibanyoni informed the court that, Gamedze tried to reach the first respondent (‘Major V’) on his mobile number on February 4, 2022 to seek clarity but could not reach him. “However, on February 5, 2022 Eric (Gamedze) managed to reach the first respondent and asked him how he got to withdraw the monies appearing in his statement when he only deposited E500 and he told him that his wife made the deposit on his behalf and he was going to bring proof of the deposit, which never took place,” alleged the MD.

Payment

Sibanyoni submitted that the bank’s officials then advised the prophet that they were going to put a lien over the balance of the funds held by him pending submission of the proof of deposit and to date he had not done so. The managing director went on to narrate to the court that on February 5, 2022, when the bank’s officials conducted further investigations, they established that besides the E10 000 which alerted Gamedze, ‘Major V’ had made cash withdrawals of about E105 000 both from the automated teller machine (ATM) and inside the Manzini branch. “He further transferred himself via e-pocket top up a sum of about E5 000 and further transferred to his FNB account via internet transfer a sum of E150 000. In addition, on the same day, he made internet transfers to Standard Bank Eswatini Limited to Justice Dlamini and to Standard Bank to Portia D Investment,” averred the MD.

She said the bank then engaged First National Bank Swaziland and Standard Bank Eswatini Limited through, the banking mechanism to withhold the funds. Sibanyoni highlighted that Standard Bank Eswatini only managed to reimburse the applicant (Swaziland Building Society) a sum of E33 328 from the monies that were transferred to Portia D Investment and E8 700 from the one that was transferred to Justice. She brought it to the attention of the court that presently, the applicant was not sure whether Standard Bank was still holding any further funds, hence the citation herein.

Advised

The MD further submitted that on the other hand, the applicant had been advised by FNB Swaziland that it still held the E150 000 which ‘Major V’ transferred to his account held with it but needed a court order to further interdict and/or reverse those funds. She submitted that in the morning of February 7, 2022, ‘Major V’ came to the applicant’s Matsapha branch where he met Gamedze (Matsapha Branch Manager), Celumusa Phakathi (Acting Head of Distribution Channels and Nomfundo Sihlongonyane (fraud investigator). According to the managing director, the prophet told them that he worked with various people praying for them for luck in getting money; trafficking and evading criminal charges, hence they thanked him with large sums of money. He also allegedly told the officials that he received the money in question from a drug dealer who was transporting drugs from Mozambique to Johannesburg.

Investigations

“Following the above, the applicant concluded subsequent to forensic investigations has established that there is neither any bank transfer nor any cash deposit for the sum of E900 500 and consequently it preliminary investigations is that the first respondent (‘Major V’) was erroneously credited with this amount, hence the funds do not belong to him,” Sibanyoni argued.
She averred that besides the error, ‘Major V’ had stated that the funds were received from a drug dealer. The MD said although he could not produce any proof even if his version could be believed (which was not admitted), he could not receive such funds as they should be subjected to criminal investigations. The various banks where the monies were deposited and the clergyman were yesterday served with the interim order by a deputy sheriff.