Ethics Commission says CenBank violated Public Probity Law in Moza Bank case – O País

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Ethics Commission says CenBank violated Public Probity Law in Moza Bank case – O País

12:24 CAT | 21 Aug 2017

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In a decision dated July 19, the Central Commission of Public Ethics concludes that the governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Rogério Zandamela, violated Article 39 (a) of the Public Probity Law by deciding on a matter in which the beneficiary, in this case Kuhanha, was an entity of which he was chairman of the board of directors.

The Commission says that Zandamela acted in a conflict of interest, inasmuch as “it is considered that there are patrimonial relationships able to create conflicts of interest whenever the public servant is the owner or the representative of another person [entity] in shareholdings or shares in any commercial, civil or cooperative society that has an interest in a decision, business or other relationship of a patrimonial nature, with the entity to which he belongs or which has an interest in the decision to be made”.

The Bank of Mozambique governor decided in favour of such an entity by indicating Kuhanha to recapitalise the Moza Bank in May.

“If the Governor of the Bank of Mozambique, as head of the public entity that disciplines and supervises the commercial banks, acted in the fullness of his powers, the situation in which Kuhanha intends to subscribe the capital of Moza Bank, within a process led by the public servant Rogério Zandamela, already becomes problematic,” the deliberation reads.

The Ethic Commission resolution further concludes that Figueiredo is in an illegal situation as chairman of the board of directors of Moza Banco, inasmuch as, having been previously appointed chairman of the Moza Banco provisional board of directors, he was circumstantially vested with management powers on behalf of the Bank of Mozambique.

Also Read: Kuhanha, Central Bank Pensions Fund takes over Moza bank

“From this legal platform, to Mr. João Figueiredo apply the provisions set forth in paragraphs a) and b) of number 2 of article 46 of the Law on Public Probity, which imposes the prohibition, within a period of two years from the date of termination of functions, to render any kind of service to the legal entity with whom he has established a relevant relationship due to his position and to accept positions in the corporate bodies with a legal entity whose corporate purpose or activity is related to his previous position,” the document reads.

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As for Moza Banco administrator Joana Matsombe, the Public Ethics Committee says that she is also in a similar conflict of interest situation to that of João Figueiredo, because she was appointed provisional administrator of Moza Banco at the time the bank was being rescued and because she was an administrator at the Bank of Mozambique when it made the decision to intervene in Moza Banco.

Also Read: Watch: Central Bank defends its handling of Moza crisis – AIM

Moza Banco had been under central bank intervention since September 2016 when Kuhanha was chosen in May 2017 to recapitalise the troubled bank. Kuhanha injected 8.1 billion meticais.

The Bank of Mozambique announced the conclusion of its intervention in Moza Banco on the first of this month in a recent statement.

Also Read: Moza Banco recapitalisation avoided money laundering – Bank of Mozambique

Source: O País