Mozambique: Moderate flooding expected in Beira city this rainy season - report
In file. LAM Embraer
The case of the 800,000 US dollar bribe paid by the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer to Mozambican officials in 2009, to ensure that Mozambique Airlines (LAM) would buy two Embraer aircraft, will be debated in the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic later this month.
The parliamentary group of the ruling Frelimo Party on Tuesday tabled a request for the scandal to be placed urgently on the Assembly’s agenda, with members of the government called to explain the matter.
There were no objections to this proposal, and so the Assembly’s governing board, its Standing Commission, must contact the government, and fix a time for the question to be discussed in the Assembly plenary sometime in the next fortnight.
Embraer was caught offering bribes in four countries – India, Saudi Arabia, the Dominican Republic and Mozambique. To avoid further legal action, the company made a full confession to both the United States and the Brazilian authorities (the United States has jurisdiction, because Embraer is quoted on Assembly to question government on Embraer bribe the New York stock exchange). Embraer agreed to pay fines in the United States and Brazil amounting to about 225 million dollars.
Documents from the US Justice Department and from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave details of the bribe, and stated that Mozambican officials were involved, but did not name them.
However, the Brazilian Federal Prosecutors’ office was less reticent. A Brazilian document, signed by prosecutors, and by Embraer officials, names the LAM official who insisted on payment of a bribe as the then chairperson of the LAM board, Jose Viegas.
It also named a key middleman (“Agent C” in the US documents) as Mateus Zimba. He was not an employee of LAM. For many years he was the Mozambican manager of the South African petrochemical giant, SASOL, and is currently the regional director of the US Company General Electric.
As detailed in the Brazilian document, Embraer was at first reluctant to “offer” more than 80,000 dollars. But Viegas allegedly said he had received reactions from unnamed other people who regarded the Embraer offer “as an insult and to some extent it would have been less offensive to offer nothing at all”.
He thought a million dollars would be acceptable, but eventually settled on 800,000. To channel this money, Zimba set up a company called Xihevele, registered in Sao Tome and Principe, the sole purpose of which was to channel the money, in two instalments of 400,000 dollars, from Embraer to the recipients of the bribe. The Mozambican AttorneyGeneral’s Office has promised to investigate the matter. (AIM)
The case of the 800,000 US dollar bribe paid by the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer to Mozambican officials in 2009, to ensure that Mozambique Airlines (LAM) would buy two Embraer aircraft, will be debated in the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic later this month.
The parliamentary group of the ruling Frelimo Party on Tuesday tabled a request for the scandal to be placed urgently on the Assembly’s agenda, with members of the government called to explain the matter.
There were no objections to this proposal, and so the Assembly’s governing board, its Standing Commission, must contact the government, and fix a time for the question to be discussed in the Assembly plenary sometime in the next fortnight.
Embraer was caught offering bribes in four countries – India, Saudi Arabia, the Dominican Republic and Mozambique. To avoid further legal action, the company made a full confession to both the United States and the Brazilian authorities (the United States has jurisdiction, because Embraer is quoted on Assembly to question government on Embraer bribe the New York stock exchange). Embraer agreed to pay fines in the United States and Brazil amounting to about 225 million dollars.
Documents from the US Justice Department and from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave details of the bribe, and stated that Mozambican officials were involved, but did not name them.
However, the Brazilian Federal Prosecutors’ office was less reticent. A Brazilian document, signed by prosecutors, and by Embraer officials, names the LAM official who insisted on payment of a bribe as the then chairperson of the LAM board, Jose Viegas.
It also named a key middleman (“Agent C” in the US documents) as Mateus Zimba. He was not an employee of LAM. For many years he was the Mozambican manager of the South African petrochemical giant, SASOL, and is currently the regional director of the US Company General Electric.
As detailed in the Brazilian document, Embraer was at first reluctant to “offer” more than 80,000 dollars. But Viegas allegedly said he had received reactions from unnamed other people who regarded the Embraer offer “as an insult and to some extent it would have been less offensive to offer nothing at all”.
He thought a million dollars would be acceptable, but eventually settled on 800,000. To channel this money, Zimba set up a company called Xihevele, registered in Sao Tome and Principe, the sole purpose of which was to channel the money, in two instalments of 400,000 dollars, from Embraer to the recipients of the bribe. The Mozambican AttorneyGeneral’s Office has promised to investigate the matter.
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.