Mozambique: Judge denies request to hear president in hidden debts case

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Mozambique: Judge denies request to hear president in hidden debts case

1:04 CAT | 19 Jan 2022

Photo: O País

The judge in the Maputo hidden debts case has rejected a request by the Mozambican Bar Association (OAM) to hear the president of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, as a declarant in the case.

“The requested diligence does not contribute to the discovery of the truth,” the judge said, considering that it is “unnecessary and aims to delay the progress of the process.”

The OAM requested the hearing of Nyusi because he was minister of defence at the time of the facts.

“Of the members of the joint command, the former minister of defence is the only declarant heard in pre-trial proceedings” whose statements “are not scheduled to be confirmed in this hearing,” justified lawyer Vicente Manjate, representing OAM.

The creation of the maritime defence company ProIndicus, used in the hidden debts, went through a joint command, but the judge refuted OAM’s claim saying that those facts have already been clarified.

“It is necessary to hear someone to come and say whether or not what is written in a document is true?” asked Efigénio Baptista.

“The proof of the creation of ProIndicus is not in question, but rather the context and the degree of involvement of each of the intervening parties,” replied Vicente Manjate.

The judge rejected the request and denied another request to hear Jaime Basilio Monteiro, who held the posts of deputy commander of the Mozambique Police Force (PRM) and interior minister. There were allusions to his capacity involvement in the case, OAM claimed.

Earlier, on 30 September, Efigénio Baptista said at one of the trial sessions that no evidence had been found that President Filipe Nyusi or his predecessor, Armando Guebuza, received money from the Privinvest group, an entity accused of paying bribes in the hidden debts case.

At the time, the judge spoke during questioning of the former director-general of the State Intelligence and Security Service (SISE) and defendant Gregório Leão, who complained that he was the only former member of the Operational Command and Joint Command of the Defence and Security Forces being tried in the hidden debts case.

Analysts told Lusa in November that the ongoing trial had produced enough evidence to open new investigations, mainly into the role of President Nyusi in contracting the loans.

“The judge’s exoneration of political figures who are not defendants, but who played a role in the process that culminated in the hidden debts and who may therefore be called upon to explain themselves, has generated a cloud of doubt regarding the judge’s stance,” said Fernando Lima, journalist and chairman of Mozambique’s first private media group, Mediacoop.

The former head of state, Armando Guebuza, will be the last witness to be heard in the trial, scheduled for 17 February.

There are 19 defendants accused of having formed a “gang” and defrauded the Mozambican state of US$2.7 billion (€2.3 billion) raised from international banks through guarantees provided by the government.

The hidden debts were incurred between 2013 and 2014 by Mozambican state-owned companies Proindicus, Ematum and MAM for tuna fishing and maritime protection projects.

The loans were secretly endorsed by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) government, led by the president at the time, Armando Guebuza, without the knowledge of parliament or the Administrative Court.

Source: Lusa