The Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Dr Timothy Thahane says the 90 days investigations against the MKM Burial Society are meant to ascertain sustainability of the schemes undertaken by MKM.

Dr Thahane was speaking at the Press conference held at Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL) premises on Wednesday.

He said the investigations have been prompted by the M1 million scheme and the bursary scheme, questioning the origin of the 67 percent returns based on the current assets of the company, which he said are small to sustain the scheme.

"The Central Bank of Lesotho has established that MKM's flow of capital in all the banks of Lesotho cannot afford to pay all the investors", he stated.

The Minister however said the equity pensions, M1 millions and bursary schemes will be suspended until investigations have been completed. This he added follows a Court Order issued to enable judicial investigations by auditors to review MKM records within 90 days.

The Minister said he is expecting to receive a report detailing all the necessary information regarding which offices to consult in relation to burial services, policies and burial packages.

Dr Thahane further said the intervention follows complaints by people who have invested monies at the company and employees for non payment of their salaries by MKM.

He insisted that government has the responsibility to protect people's investments, “We have absolutely no intention to close down the company, but to stabilise the situation,” he emphasised.

Meanwhile, the Governor of the Central Bank of Lesotho, Dr Moeketsi Senaoana told the media that due to the company's employees and passers-by interruption to the process, the auditors failed to continue with the work.

Dr Senaoana said the impression they have as CBL is that people are against the Court Order of the Central Bank, however saying that Court Orders should be respected at all times.

Source: LENA 29/11/2007