Watch: Zimba’s bank account closed for suspected fraud – AIM report

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Watch: Zimba’s bank account closed for suspected fraud – AIM report

8:28 CAT | 06 Mar 2020

Photo: Miramar

An official of the ABC Bank, one of Mozambique’s commercial banks, told the Maputo City Court on Wednesday that the account of Mateus Zimba, former representative in Mozambique of the South African petro-chemical company Sasol, was closed down because of suspected fraud.

Along with former Transport Minister Paulo Zucula and the former chairperson of Mozambique Airlines (LAM), Jose Viegas, Zimba is accused of involvement in the scheme whereby the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer paid a bribe of 800,000 US dollars in 2009 so that LAM would buy two Embraer aircraft.

To receive the money Zimba set up a shell company, named Xihivele, in the West African state of Sao Tome and Principe. The only activity Xihivele ever undertook was to receive the 800,000 dollars from Embraer, in two instalments.

Lizete Vitorino, who managed Zimba’s personal account at the ABC bank between 2015 and 2019, said the account was closed down in 2019. She told the court “As the manager, I received a letter from the Legal Department, requesting the closure of the account for motives of compliance – that is, because the bank’s policy does not allow us to have clients who are involved in fraud”.

But she was not working at the bank when Zimba opened the account, and could shed no light on the 800,000 dollars transferred by Xihivele.

According to the prosecution, the 800,000 dollars was divided between Zimba and Zucula. 430,000 dollars of the bribe went to Zucula, while 370,000 stayed with Zimba. There is no evidence that any of it went to Viegas.

The prosecution has the bank records and so knows who Zimba paid with this money. On Wednesday, well-known Mozambican musician Alexandre Mazuze confirmed that he had received 500 dollars in order to perform at Zimba’s wedding. He said he had nothing to do with the purchase of the aircraft.

Zimba’s driver while he was working at Sasol, Nuno Amone, received a cheque in his name for 3,000 dollars. He claimed that he was just a go-between – he would cash cheques and give the money to Zimba.

There was a similar arrangement between Zucula and his aide-de-camp, Bruno Crisostomo. A cheque was issued in his name for 5,000 dollars, but he told the court the money was really for Zucula. He just withdrew the money and handed it over to Zucula.

His job, he said, was “to guarantee the security of the leader (Zucula) and of his property. That money was part of the property. There’s nothing abnormal about this. Sometime I withdrew money and I always gave it to its owner”.

But, according to the prosecution, it was Zimba who, in March 2010, gave the cheque for 5,000 dollars to Crisostomo, with instructions that he was to pass the money to Zucula.

A long list of payments made by Zimba has been published by the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”. The first transfer of the Xihivele money, according to the newssheet, was 275,000 dollars for Zucula, sent to a bank account in the United Kingdom on 23 September 2009, just 12 days after the first instalment of the Embraer bribe had been received.

In the transfer order sent to a senior official in the International Bank of Sao Tome and Principe, Zimba said the money was a contribution to the election campaign in Mozambique (general elections were held in Mozambique in October 2009).

In November 2009, Zimba transferred 150,000 dollars to the GAPI investment company in Maputo. Zimba told the Sao Tomean bank that the money was to purchase shares in Green Point, a company owned by Zucula.

According to the prosecution, Zucula had contracted a loan from GAPI in the name of Green Point, and the purpose of the transfer was to pay off that loan.

In February 2010, Zimba transferred 75,000 dollars from the Xihivele Sao Tome account to his personal account in the ABC Bank in Maputo. He told the Sao Tomean bank that the money was for real estate investment in Mozambique.

The following month a further 150,000 dollars was transferred from Sao Tome to Zimba’s ABC account – again, the supposed purpose was real estate investment. In July 2010 there was another transfer, for the same purposes, this time of 90,000 dollars. A further sum, just short of 49,000 dollars, was transferred from Sao Tome in September.

He had intended to transfer 50,000 dollars, but there was not enough money left in the account, so only 48,947 dollars were transferred. This was supposed to be for the election campaign – although the elections had taken place almost a year earlier.

The talk about real estate was not entirely false. Zimba used 95,000 dollars and 1.6 million meticais (24,600 dollars at today’s exchange rates, but worth much more in 2010) to purchase two properties in Maputo. He made down payments on both properties, but, according to the prosecution, he did not pay the remaining instalments and so lost the money.

A string of cheques for relatively small sums followed – including the 5,000 dollar cheque for Bruno Crisostomo, the 3,000 dollars for Nuno Amone, and the 500 dollars for Mazuze.