11 municipal officials sentenced for embezzlement

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11 municipal officials sentenced for embezzlement

12:40 CAT | 08 Dec 2017

The Manica district court in central Mozambique on Wednesday sentenced 11 officials of Manica Municipal Council to prison terms of between three months and three years, all converted into fines, for their part in corrupt schemes to steal municipal funds.

The court also ordered the 11 accused to repay the Municipal Council for the funds they had drained from its coffers.

The prosecution showed that the thefts began in 2015, but were only discovered in February this year. The total losses to the Manica City municipality are put at 1.1 million meticais (about 18,300 US dollars).

Investigations led to one official who, under questioning, then gave the names of the other ten involved in the scheme. The method used was to issue fake tickets that were used to collect daily fees from the sellers in municipal markets and elsewhere in the city. Thus the sellers believed they had paid their fees, but the money went into private pockets and not to the municipality.

Heading the scheme was the head of the mayor’s office, Amos Zacarias, who gave the tickets first to his wife and his sister-in-law. Later they were also provided to market inspectors.

Each block contained tickets to the value of 1,900 meticais. The money was initially shared between Zacarias, his wife and his sister-in-law, but they then invited other municipal officials, included the head of human resources, the head of municipal assets, and several market inspectors, to take part.

The judge, Efigenio Baptista, had no doubt that the accused were guilty of the crime of embezzlement. The lawyer for the Municipal Council, Nelson Pedro, said the sentence was just – particularly because the accused would now have to repay the money they had stolen.

“For us, this is a victory”, said Pedro. “It will serve as an example to any other municipal staff who may wish to deviate from the norms of the institution”.

The 11 accused also faced disciplinary hearings, which led to the expulsion of eight of them from their municipal council jobs.

Source: AIM