2 civil servants implicated in visa scandal
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIl
M- Two civil servants have been implicated in the ongoing internal investigations over the visa scandal at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Well-placed sources disclosed to this publication that the investigations were about to be completed and the ministry would then hand over the report to the minister who would then make a decision whether to institute criminal charges against the implicated civil servants or not.
According to the sources, the two civil servants allegedly pocketed a lot of money in the issuance of visa documents to undeserving individuals in several countries who were planning to come to Eswatini.
Before the internal investigations were initiated, the Ministry of Home Affairs is said to have worked around the clock in stopping a possible national security breach, after discovering that over 2 000 foreigners had been illegally granted visas to enter the kingdom.
A full scale internal investigation has been instituted in the past few months to ascertain how these visas were granted to the foreign nationals and who was responsible for the fraudulent
King Mswati back. A visa belonging to Eswatini.
act.
Also, some immigration officers have reportedly been suspended so as to make sure the investigation process is not tempered with in any way.
PRogRess
However, Communications Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mlandvo Dlamini, when asked on the progress of the internal investigations, refused to divulge any information at this stage and said that all would be revealed during a press conference immediately the enquiry is complete.
According to impeccable sources, the immediate cancellation of the visas for the foreign nationals was prompted by the Chief Immigration Officer, Makhosi
Goodwill Simelane, who suspected that a crime could be in progress.
It is said that these e-visas were reportedly issued at the same time, allegedly by some officials within the ministry.
These visas were issued to a multitude of foreign nationals from a number of countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Somalia, India, Nigeria, Egypt, Congo and Cameroon.
These foreigners were all destined for Eswatini; in fact, some were still on their way to the kingdom as they were not aware of the revocation.
Most of the foreigners use the King Mswati III International Airport to enter the country.