Hidden debts: Mozambican court withdraws charges against one defendant and rejects 19 appeals

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Hidden debts: Mozambican court withdraws charges against one defendant and rejects 19 appeals

2:51 CAT | 09 Jun 2020

File photo: Lusa

The Maputo Superior Court of Appeal yesterday ordered the release of Márcia Amélia Biosse de Caifaz Namburete, one of the ‘hidden debts’ defendants, but rejected appeals by another 19, an official statement has announced.

Márcia Namburete’s indictment “was withdrawn because there were doubts about her participation in the crimes that she had been indicted of, and her release was immediately ordered,” the Supreme Court press release reads.

Márcia Amélia Biosse de Caifaz Namburete, wife of businessman Sérgio Namburete, also a defendant, was among the 19 people accused in the scope of the investigation, and who appealed the Maputo Judicial Court decision.

The court rejected the appeals of all other defendants, “consequently upholding the order of the Judicial Court of the City of Maputo and the enforcement measures applied in relation to all defendants”.

Until the Maputo Superior Court of Appeal withdrew the indictment against Maria Biosse, the case had a total of 20 defendants, of which 19 were in detention and one (Elias Moiane) had been granted bail because his role in the case was considered minor.

The Mozambican public prosecutor accuses defendants of criminal association, blackmail, passive corruption, embezzlement, abuse of office or function, violation of management rules and falsification of documents.

The arrests in Mozambique began on February 14, 2019, after US justice authorities asked for the arrest of Manuel Chang, former minister of finance of former Mozambican president Armando Guebuza. Chang detained on December 29, 2018, while traveling through South Africa, where he awaits competing demands for extradition to the US and Mozambique.

Before Chang was taken into custody, no arrests had been made on Mozambican soil despite three-and-a-half years of investigation.

The detained defendants include the former president’s son, Ndambi Guebuza, his private secretary, Inês Moiane, and former leaders of the State Information and Security Services (SISE).

The case is related to the guarantees granted by the previous Mozambican executive between 2013 and 2014 for loans of around two billion Euros in favour of state-owned companies Ematum, MAM and Proindicus.

Source: Lusa