by Björn Schöpe
October 6, 2011 – Around six months ago a specimen of a new E200 note disappeared from a safe in the Central Bank of Swaziland (CBS). Together with new banknotes launched in June, this specimen had been printed by Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) in Munich, Germany, a leading supplier of banknotes.
All Swazi banknotes are produced in Germany where the coins are minted as well.
When this happened the manager in charge of the specimen was out of office and an accountant asked for the safe key. The suspect accountant allegedly sold it to an Indian based in South Africa. The interception of electronic correspondences revealed that the buyer tried to resell his acquisition abroad. The bank fears a syndicate might intend to forge the new notes using the specimen for its preparations.
Investigations are still pending. CBS Corporate Communications Manager Sibusiso Mngadi said: “This is a matter that is still under (internal) investigation and we are not ready to comment on it yet.” The accountant of the bank, who has been suspended in connection with the matter said: “I suggest you talk to the bank because the matter concerns the bank and they have not called me to get my side of the story yet.” We will have to attend his view on the matter and the results of further investigations of CBS.
The whole article by Swaziland Times you can read here.
Information on Swaziland’s currency you can find at the bank’s website.