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At least 20 million meticais were diverted from the state coffers in Manica between January and October of this year, 1.8 million of which disappeared in a case which has seen the provincial director of Culture and Tourism, Jossias Vurande, and officials from the institution he heads indicted.
Spokesman to the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PGR) in the Province Inacio Vumbuca is quoted in news reports by Radio France International (RFI) and the Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias as saying that 23 officials and agents are under investigation.
Vumbuca, quoted on Wednesday, warned that the corruption taking root was reaching the stage with potential for devaluing the service provided by public officials, adding that acts of corruption “are not dignifying the quality of public servants”, with even criminal prosecution of officials in some cases.
“The law has to be enforced, or one can fall in situations like these, where our colleagues will eventually be able to be tried and condemned”, of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Manica spokesman said, according to RFI.
With 23 officials and state agents suspected of embezzlement and corruption, top leaders of public institutions have reached record numbers compared to other years, according to the source.
Vumbuca said that one of the cases was being brought against the provincial director of Culture and Tourism of Manica, Jossias Vurande, and a group of employees of that institution, for deviation of 1.8 million meticais from the public treasury.
Other officials from the agriculture and food security and education sectors are suspected of diverting 20 million meticais between January and October this year.
Suspects linked to the two institutions, according to DN on Thursday, are being heard in 12 for “corruption and embezzlement” criminal cases.
“Of the cases filed by the prosecutor’s office, 10 are in the preliminary investigation phase,” while in two the prosecutor had already brought charges and had been referred to the court, the prosecutor’s spokesman added.
The Sussundenga District Attorney’s Office had followed up indications that the mayor and six other officials had diverted two million meticais, resulting in their arrest.
“The law has to be the foundation of our activities; the law has to be the limit of our powers,” Vumbuca reiterated.
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