PGR files complaint with Administrative Court for accountability of public officials, companies involved in ‘hidden debts’ – Mozambique

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PGR files complaint with Administrative Court for accountability of public officials, companies involved in ‘hidden debts’ – Mozambique

1:07 CAT | 29 Jan 2018

tribunal_administrativo_11_114745318453e4a509a4d3c

File photo / Administrative Court of Mozambique

Mozambique’s Attorney General’s Office (PGR) announced today that it would seek the financial accountability of public officials and state-owned companies that contracted US$2 billion in debt between 2013 and 2014.

“On January 26, the Public Prosecution Service submitted a complaint to the Administrative Court with a view to the financial accountability of public officials and state-owned companies involved in the signing and management of contracts of financing and goods and services supply,” it said in a statement.

The decision is based on the preparatory documents of proceeding No. 1/PGR/2015 of 12 August on the public debt contracted by Proindicus, Ematum (Empresa Moçambicana de Atum) and MAM (Mozambique Asset Management) through external financing with state guarantees.

Today’s PGR announcement notes that a number of facts that might involve financial infractions have been found “throughout the investigation, which is part of Kroll’s audit report, as well as the report of the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission to investigate the debt situation”.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office lists three points: “failure to comply with the procedures and limits established by law in the issuance of guarantees and assurances by the Government”, “non-compliance with legal procedures in the contracting of external financing and in the contracting of goods and services”, and “execution of acts and contracts without their submission to the mandatory inspection by the competent entities”.

The PGR also notes that, within the scope of its powers, it sent the government on Friday a document “alerting them to the obscurities, deficiencies and contradictions of legal texts pertaining to the state business sector and public probity,” recommending several amendments to the laws and regulations.

“Procedures continue in relation to identifying possible criminal infractions and [the] accountability of their agents,” it adds.

The Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office states that it “continues to collect evidence at national and international levels, with the assistance of foreign countries to which requests for mutual legal assistance have been addressed in the framework of international cooperation, despite the occurrence of certain delays in the satisfaction of the requests jeopardising a speedy outcome of the process”.

The debt of two billion US dollars was contracted between 2013 and 2014 during the presidency of Armando Guebuza in an episode known as the hidden debt scandal, by three public companies owned by the State Information and Security Service (SISE): Ematum, allegedly engaged in fishing, Proindicus, a maritime security and surveillance company, and MAM, a company linked to naval maintenance.

An audit by the international consultancy Kroll requested by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) and released in June last year describes the firms as facades without credible management plans, and implicates several public office holders in the process, though without naming them.

Kroll further complains that it was denied access to relevant information as to where the money went on the grounds that it was sensitive material, relating to state security.

Read the full PGR Statement ( in Portuguese) here

Source: Lusa