The man who facilitated Congolese oil rights shared by the Moseneke family’s Encha Group has been convicted in Belgium as the kingpin of the currency “fraud of the century”.
The Brussels appeal court sentenced Nozi Mwamba, who lives in South Africa and his native Democratic Republic of Congo, to six years’ imprisonment in absentia.
The fraud, spanning four continents, involved the production and attempted laundering of 140-million Bahraini dinars (about R3,4-billion).
Mwamba’s lawyer, Pierre Chomé, said he was appealing, but confirmed there was an active warrant for Mwamba’s arrest in Belgium.
Mwamba, who is understood to be in the DRC, facilitated the awarding of exploration rights in the Eastern DRC to Brown’s Divine Inspiration Group (DIG) and the South Africa Congo Oil Company (Sacoil), the latter jointly owned by DIG and the Mosenekes’ Encha Group.
In November, the Mail & Guardian revealed Deputy Judge President Dikgang Moseneke’s wide-ranging investments via his family trust, which owns Encha. The M&G highlighted the controversy around Encha investments, including the Sacoil deal.
Moseneke insists he did not compromise judicial ethics or his independence. There is no suggestion he personally interacted with Mwamba.
Although DIG’s Brown confirmed that Mwamba was “my direct adviser and indirectly therefore [adviser] to Encha”, Moseneke’s brother, Tiego, has denied knowledge of Mwamba’s involvement in securing oil rights.
This week Brown maintained Mwamba’s innocence, saying Mwamba would appeal based on a “lack of due process and irregularities”. He said the conviction had no relevance to the DRC. Mwamba had only acted as an adviser at points, and was not a partner or director of any company involved.
In 1998 Mwamba and others persuaded an Argentinian currency printer to deliver what it believed was a legitimate Bahrain state order for dinars, which were diverted to Chad and Niger.