Derisory Sentence for Judge Found Guilty of Corruption in Inhambane, Mozambique

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Derisory Sentence for Judge Found Guilty of Corruption in Inhambane, Mozambique

7:14 CAT | 09 Dec 2015

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In file Club of Mozambique

The Inhambane Provincial Court, in southern Mozambique, on Friday found a district judge guilty of corruption and abuse of his office, but sentenced him to only 15 days imprisonment.

In addition the magistrate, Raul Mahece, presiding judge of the Panda district court, must pay 30 days of fine to the state at the daily rate of five per cent of the statutory minimum wage. This amounts to a total fine of 4,533 meticais (about 86 dollars, at current exchange rates).

According to the report of the trial in Tuesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, Mahece was accused of extorting 10,000 meticais from the family of a man named Ernesto Raimundo, who had been arrested for illegal driving.

When the money was deposited, the court registrar, Zaida Macucule, informed Mahece who was then on leave. Mahece then instructed a second court official, Abneiro Faife, to issue a release warrant for Raimundo. This should not have been possible in the judge’s absence – but, in violation of normal court rules, Mahece had left signed warrants in his office, and all Faife had to do was fill in details of the prisoner to be released.

When he arrived at the Panda prison, Faife refused to hand over the release papers without extorting a second bribe. He demanded 1,000 meticais from Raimundo – but he only had 500 on his person. He was released, but that afternoon Faife went to Raimundo’s house and demanded the missing 500, which Raimundo’s wife handed over.

Raimundo fought back by submitting a complaint against Mahece, Macucule and Faife to the Inhambane branch of the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption (GCCC), which then ensured that the case went to court.

The judge in the provincial court, Adelina Vaz, said that Mahece had no business leaving signed warrants in his office, since this opened the door to illicit acts. She found it proved that Mahece and the two court officers were all guilty of corruption, although she accepted as a mitigating circumstance the fact that Mahece and Macucule had returned the 10,000 meticais to Raimundo.

Macucule and Faife were both sentenced to three days imprisonment and 15 days of a fine at the same rate as Mahece. Their prison terms were also converted into fines. The court ordered Faife to repay the 1,000 meticais bribe he extorted from Raimundo.

The “Noticias” report has astonished legal professionals in Maputo, since charges of corruption should never carry such a lenient penalty.

The chairperson of the Mozambique Bar Association (OAM), Tomas Timbane, remarked on his Facebook page on Tuesday “with these penalties, I am not surprised that corruption is on the increase”.

The sentence could be overturned if the Public Prosecutor’s Office were to appeal, and call for a stiffer penalty. In any case, Mahece’s future as a magistrate must be in doubt, since his case will certainly go before the Higher Council of the Judicial Magistracy (CSMJ), the regulatory and disciplinary body for judges.

Source: AIM