Hidden debts: Proindicus hid the agreement from the Attorney General

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Hidden debts: Proindicus hid the agreement from the Attorney General

10:05 CAT | 08 Jan 2019

Voa Portugues

In 2013, when the process of forgery and corruption that led to Mozambique’s ‘hidden debts’ scandal was launched, then Attorney General Augusto Paulino was seen as a possible hindrance to the scheme.

Indeed, e-mails published in the file indicate that Jean Boustani of the Privinvest company, who was recently detained in New York, was alarmed when employees of the bank that organised the loans for the Mozambican company Proindicus said that the validation process would have to include the Attorney General’s opinion.

Boustani, says the indictment, objected “tenaciously” to this, “on behalf of Privinvest and Mozambique”. Messages obtained by the New York state prosecutor’s office indicate that leaders of the Mozambican company Proinducus were the ones who opposed any information being given to the then Attorney General.

In an e-mail to bank official Detelina Subeva dated 18 February, Bustani says that “the opinion of the attorney general is not mandatory ….”.

“I think this will not be accepted by Proindicus, since its owner when creating a private entity wanted from day one to avoid the public tender and normal bureaucratic procedures! Therefore they will never accept that the information is given to the Attorney General !! The (Ministry of Finance) guarantee is legally covered by a presidential decree,” the message said.

The indictment says that three bank officials, Andre Pearse, Surjan Singh and Detelina Subeva, “along with others eventually removed this requirement from the conditions” imposed by the bank.

The three officials were arrested in London and are part of the prosecutor’s indictment. They also removed from documents the requirement that Mozambique had to inform the International Monetary Fund of the loans.

Jean Boustani is due to appear in court in New York on January 22.

Augusto Paulino was Attorney General from 2007 to 2014, when he was dismissed from the position.

Source: Voa Portugues