Mozambique: Government moves to privatize management of seized assets and goods

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Mozambique: Government moves to privatize management of seized assets and goods

1:09 CAT | 28 Apr 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: TVM]

The Mozambican government, through the Ministry of Finance, is to privatize the management of assets seized from criminals. In Notice No. 02/GGA/MEF/2025, of April 4, published last Thursday, the Ministry of Finance announced the opening of a public tender for the selection of a market entity specialized in the management of seized companies and corporate assets.

The tender is covered by paragraph b) of number 1 of article 25, of Law No. 13/2020, of December 23, which defines, among other attributions of the Asset Management Office, supervised by the Ministry of Finance, to determine the disposal, capitalization, sale, allocation to public service or destruction of recovered assets. This is a mechanism that aims to make the most of assets seized and recovered by the State, one of the biggest “Achilles heels” in the fight against crime.

READ: Mozambique: Ministry of Finance will manage seized assets and goods

According to the Notice, whose competition will open at 9:30 a.m. this Wednesday (April 30, 2025), the Government intends to hire companies specialized in the management of agricultural products, livestock and related services; natural products (ore, water, wood, gas and others); food products and beverages.

Likewise, the Government intends to hire companies specialized in the management of textile products, footwear, clothing and accessories; pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical products; fuel stations; telecommunications; engineering works and services; various furniture products, vehicles, machinery and equipment; and financial services, insurance, reinsurance, pensions and health plans.

The Executive will also privatize the management of assets in the areas of accommodation, guesthouses and lodging; transport services; legal, management, consultancy, accounting and auditing activities; architectural and engineering services; technical testing and analysis; research and development; surveillance, security and investigation activities; education; human health; veterinary activities; and other professional, commercial, scientific and technical activities.

The Notice also stresses that, for accommodation, guesthouse and lodging activities and agricultural, livestock and related services products, “the specialised market entity will be immediately activated to carry out management, considering that companies have already been seized”.

According to the Notice, these are the Executive Hotel; an urban property on Avenida Zedequias Manganhela; Aterro Machaquene, Maputo City (opposite the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy), currently undergoing an inventory of assets; and Fazenda Rei do Gado, a property containing various properties and furniture located in Movene, Moamba district, Maputo province.

“As other seized companies to be managed are handed over by the judicial authorities, formal actions will be taken against market entities specializing in management, in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in this notice,” it stresses.

According to the Notice published by the Ministry of Finance, the following are prohibited from participating in the competition: individuals convicted by a final court ruling for any crime that calls into question their professional suitability; individuals punished by disciplinary measures for serious professional misconduct; and individuals or legal entities sanctioned by any institution of the Public Administration, including its representation abroad, with a ban on hiring due to the practice of an unlawful act in a contracting procedure. These impediments, says the Notice, are in force for the duration of the sanction.

Agents who are part of the staff of the Contracting Entity and the person responsible for the decision to be issued are also prohibited from participating in the competition; individuals or legal entities who have defrauded the State or who are involved in fraudulent bankruptcies of companies or in bankruptcy or composition proceedings; and individuals or legal entities who have a family relationship or affinity up to the third degree with owners, administrators, controllers or legal representatives of the seized establishment, or are their friends, enemies or dependents.

In October last year, the Asset Management Office auctioned assets seized by the judicial authorities, as part of the fight against crime, including vehicles (light and heavy), motorcycles, tractors, trailers, containers, trailers, household appliances, various types of home furniture, generators, water tanks, electrical energy transformers, among other equipment.

The Asset Management Office was created in 2020, through Law No. 13/2020, of December 23, as a central body of the State that oversees the area of State assets, with powers to manage assets and goods seized or recovered within the scope of national judicial proceedings or acts arising from international legal and judicial cooperation.

Source: Carta de Moçambique