Whilst I didn’t know all these facts as I calmly drank my ritualistic cup of tea this morning, I do now, and I don’t know which was making my temperature rise – the tea or King Mswati III of Swaziland…

Did you know he has a McDonnell Douglas MD87 private plane?  Which cost “someone” $11.45m? With an interior valued at R44 million? I’ll bet you didn’t. In fact, it’s probably worth more than that, what with inflation.

Interestingly though, the Canadian government had to get involved. A Malaysian businessman, Shanmuga “Shan” Rethenam claimed that “the king had failed to pay him a long-outstanding debt” (that’s the R44m interior) and filed a court application in Canada.

It took a delegation of diplomats and lawyers to negotiate the plane’s release, and last month a Canadian court ruled the king could have his plane back if the government of Swaziland coughed up $3.5m in surety.

Shan the Malaysian is now too scared to go back to Swaziland, where, in the past, he “allegedly mismanaged a once-lucrative iron ore mine in the country”. Back in 2011, he asked the king for a licence for the Ngwenya mine, formerly operated by Anglo American.

His company took a 50% stake in the new venture, Salgaocar Swaziland; 25% was given to the government of Swaziland; and 25% was given to the king “in trust for the Swazi nation”.

Between news of this and the plane, eyebrows have been raised. Vague answers have been given as to who “gifted” the king his plane in the first place, with government saying it was from “development partners and friends”. It is suspected the first $10 million was paid by Kuwait.

Hmmm.

As for whether any of it is considered bribery, Shan the Malaysian explains: “If you give somebody in power or position money, it’s called bribery. But this is a head of state, and it’s common for the king to be part of a deal. Look, this is the custom in Swaziland; this is how things are done, unfortunately. So I don’t know. Some people might call it a bribe, but for me it was not a bribe.”

Back in 2012, Forbes estimated the king’s personal wealth to be in excess of $100 million.

News24 has done a wonderful in-depth story with a lot more info and investigating.