Africa-Press – Eswatini. South African businessman Dave van Niekerk has come out with guns blazing, refuting reports that a company linked to him, Asset Management (Pty) Ltd, has repaid Status Capital Building Society a sum of E35 million.
Responding to a story carried by one of the local dailies that thousands of emaSwati investors who lost E100 million having invested in Status Capital Building Society have “received a glimmer of hope”, Dave van Niekerk described the report as devoid of truth.
“This is utter nonsense. There is nothing like that, not even close. The people who need to be held accountable at Status are known; it is the management which needs to answer to the investors.
That’s why a curator was brought in to unearth the rot and misuse of funds that has been going on there.
Status Capital can’t pay the members monthly interests, yet there are people in management paying themselves huge salaries and the business is no longer serving its purpose which is the payment of mature investments to members of the society,” Van Niekerk said.
Dave Van Nikerk
Van Niekerk added: “The Board and management is not serving the interest of the society which is their core mandate.
They are in total breach of their fiduciary duty and continue to pay legal fees, security guards and salaries.”
The report, carried by one of the local dailies, further stated that the curator of Status Building Society Bismal de Silva had confirmed that there is progress in trying to recover the lost funds.
“We can confirm that there has been a bit of progress in the recovery steps thanks largely to the legal steps, taken by the building society to hold the relevant counterparties accountable,” the curator is quoted as saying in the article.
De Silva, appointed by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) to manage the Status Building Society (FSRA) in early December and recover the misappropriated finds, is further quoted, saying:
“We are, however, still currently pursuing recovery of over E100 million owed to SCBS by former SCBS directors and their companies.
We are hopeful that by the time we reach the annual general meeting, we will have substantial progress regarding the outcome of our overall efforts to recover the outstanding amounts”
Last year, SCBS suspended payments of monthly interest to its members. There are over 121 investment account holders who were receiving monthly interest from Status Capital.
For More News And Analysis About Eswatini Follow Africa-Press
