Large sums vanish from Maputo immigration service – AIM report

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Large sums vanish from Maputo immigration service – AIM report

9:37 CAT | 21 Sep 2017

O País / Senami

About 17.5 million meticais (287,000 US dollars, at current exchange rates) has disappeared from the coffers of the Maputo City immigration services, according to a report in the daily paper ”Noticias”.

This sum is part of the revenue collected in March, which was over 48.7 million meticais. But the accounts from the Maputo office sent to the treasury only show revenue of 31.2 million meticais. The remaining 17.5 million could not be located.

The system is that the money collected by the provincial branches of the immigration services (SENAMI) is first deposited in their own accounts, and then transferred to the central SENAMI account at the end of each month. By the 10th of the following month, SENAMI must transfer the entire sum to the Treasury.

The sources who spoke to “Noticias” believe that the money went missing between 23 March and the beginning of April, precisely at the moment when the old management of the Maputo office was replaced by a new management.

The Maputo City Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) is investigating the case, and is interviewing present and former managers of the city immigration office.

“So far nobody has managed to explain where the sum in question has gone”, one source told the paper. “Investigations are continuing to ascertain whether the money was diverted during the previous management or under the present one, whether the money was removed all at once, or in phases, whether bank transfers were used or it was taken out as cash”.

SERNIC has now handed the matter over to the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption (GCCC).

Source: AIM