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Mozambique: Former Minister of Transports denies having received bribes – Watch
12:19 CAT | 28 Feb 2020
Photo: Noticias
The legal defence of former Minister of Transport and Communications Paulo Zucula denied in court on Thursday accusations that the former official received bribes in the course of a deal with Embraer, characterising them as presumptions based on ‘turn state’s evidence’ [delação premiada].
Paulo Zucula’s defence countered the allegations in arguments presented on the first day of the trial of the case concerning the alleged payment of bribes in the sale, in 2009, of two air planes by the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer to national carrier Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM – Mozambique Airlines).
“The prosecution of the Attorney General’s Office and the court’s pronouncement are based on assumptions and the plea bargains of employees of Embraer in Brazil,” Damião Cumbana, lawyer for Paulo Zucula, said.
The lawyer admitted that the accused received money from Mateus Zimba, his co-defendant, accused by prosecutors of having been the intermediary in the bribery, but said that the payment was related to a business transaction regarding a property in a tourist development that Paulo Zucula owns in Inhambane province in southern Mozambique.
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Meanwhile, the defence lawyer for former LAM chairman José Viegas, who is accused of having solicited bribes from Embraer, also denied any illegal conduct, arguing that the defendant did not receive any payment.
“At no time is it proven that José Viegas received any illegal payment. The charges are based on emails and some who have turned state witness,” Abdul Gani said.
Regarding the accusation that the former LAM chairman pressured Embraer to inflate the price of airplanes in order to obtain a margin of payment for bribes, the lawyer of José Viegas stated that the cost update by the Brazilian manufacturer was due to the time elapsed between the signing of the contract and the beginning of payments.
The legal defence of Mateus Zimba, who is accused of starting a company that served as a vehicle for the transfer and payment of bribes, said that his client acted as Embraer’s commercial agent and received a legitimate commission for that role.
“Mateus Zimba has in-depth knowledge of business in Mozambique and was hired by Embraer to facilitate the closing of the deal between the two companies,” Zimba’s lawyer Tomás Timbane said.
Regarding the fact that the company used by Mateus Zimba to pay the alleged bribes was registered in São Tomé and Príncipe, Tomás Timbane argued that it was Embraer that recommended that it be headquartered abroad.
The indictment read yesterday in court accuses the ex-minister of Transport and Communications of Mozambique of having allegedly received US$430,000, and Mateus Zimba, a former private manager, of pocketing US$370,000 for their roles in the deal between Embraer and LAM.
Embraer sold the two airplanes for US$31.1 million each, but the Public Prosecutor maintains that the going price for the craft was just over US$30 million, and that the amount was inflated in order to furnish money for bribes.
Paulo Zucula and Mateus Zimba are accused of economic participation in business and money laundering.
The former chairman of LAM is accused of economic participation in business for allegedly pressuring Embraer to raise the price of the airplanes in order to pay bribes, but no undue receipt is attributed to him in the court files.
Interrogation of the three defendants in the Judicial Court of the City of Maputo begins today.
Source: Rádo Moçambique / VOA Portugues
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