Kingdom identified as major money laundering hub

Leaked documents from the eSwatini Financial Intelligence Unit (EFIU) reveal how, in late 2018, the kingdom’s authorities began secretly investigating suspicious payments amounting to tens of millions of rands between entities linked to two politically connected businessmen. amaBhungane reports that the probe raised red flags regarding the relationship between Keenin Schofield, son-in-law of King Mswati III, and a Dubai-based businessman, Alistair Mathias, who claimed to be a close friend of the monarch. Mathias was accused in a 2023 Al Jazeera documentary of being one of the architects behind a vast scheme to smuggle gold out of Zimbabwe, allegedly with the complicity of the Mnangagwa regime. The leaks reveal how funds emanating from a Johannesburg company named AMFS moved through entities controlled by Schofield and Mathias before ultimately being transferred to Dubai. This raised suspicions in eSwatini that the pair might be using the country as a conduit for smuggling illegally obtained gold to the UAE under the guise of a company, and that this was being done to ‘conceal the true source and purpose of the funds received and transferred’, according to a letter the EFIU wrote to the country’s tax authority.

The ‘Swazi Secrets’ comprise more than 890 000 documents from the EFIU obtained by Distributed Denial of Secrets, a non-profit devoted to publishing and archiving leaks. The documents were shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), who in turn shared it with seven media partners as part of their investigation. DM notes that in 2018, Schofield’s company, Schofield & Co, was making a name for itself selling high-end custom watches and jewellery to a slew of wealthy celebrities. There is very little public information on Schofield's marriage to Princess Temtsimba, one of the king’s daughters, but he confirmed the marriage to amaBhungane and said that he and the princess have two children. Mathias was not widely known until last year, when Al Jazeera aired its undercover exposé on the ‘Gold Mafia’ operating in Southern Africa. In secretly recorded interviews with journalists posing as crooked businessmen, Mathias claimed to be one of the kingpins using gold to move and ‘cleanse’ cash on behalf of Zimbabwean clients. In the interviews, Mathias hinted at a larger operation on the continent, telling Al Jazeera’s undercover reporters that he ‘moves’ gold worth between $70m and $80m each month through Ghana and Southern Africa to Dubai.

The business relationship between the two developed quickly. According to Schofield & Co’s FNB bank statements, which amaBhungane obtained through the leaks, Schofield travelled to Dubai in June 2018. Upon returning later that month, Schofield’s business account received three large cash deposits amounting to $46 000 on the same day. All three deposits were made with the same reference: ‘Watches & Jewellery’. A few days later, Schofield & Co. made a single payment of $40 800 to Mathias Holdings in Dubai. It seems that Schofield’s bankers at FNB immediately became suspicious. On 2 July, FNB’s in-house financial crime analyst sent an email to the EFIU containing Schofield & Co.’s company documents, which included earlier bank statements for the company. The EFIU had been alerted. A similar sequence occurred a week later, on 11 July. Six cash deposits amounting to $92 600 were made on the same day, at the same branch, to Schofield & Co.’s account. The next day, Schofield & Co. sent $84 900 to Mathias Holdings in Dubai. In a matter of weeks, Schofield & Co had received millions of rands, dwarfing all the money that had arrived in their bank account in the preceding nine months.

At the same time as cash was rolling into Schofield’s company account, seemingly destined for Dubai, the pair established a company named Mint of Eswatini in which they were equal shareholders. This company immediately obtained a licence to operate in the SEZ, which provided tax incentives. amaBhungane notes that Schofield told it he thought this would be the vehicle that would achieve his dream of developing a gold refinery in the country. Despite the plans to build a refinery, which would entail significant costs in eSwatini, the funds arriving in the country were immediately sent to Dubai. Schofield claims that this was to pay for inventory like gold bars and coins. Schofield said Mathias alone controlled Mint of Eswatini’s bank accounts, even though Schofield was a 50% shareholder and a director of the company. The insertion of Mint of Eswatini into the chain of transfers from SA to Dubai via eSwatini could have been, according to the analysis of the EFIU, part of a ‘layering’ pattern.