Light Sentences for Bank Fraud

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Light Sentences for Bank Fraud

12:32 CAT | 04 Jan 2016

In file Club of Mozambique

The Maputo City Court on Tuesday sentenced the seven accused in a major bank fraud to between six months and four years imprisonment, according to the report on the trial in Wednesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.

The fraud involved the theft of almost 25 million meticais (about 556,000 US dollars) from the Maputo branch of the United Bank for Africa (UBA). The court found the two men at the heart of the fraud, accountant Adriano Novela and account manager Antonio Loveve, guilty of criminal conspiracy, abuse of trust and abuse of power.

The two allowed cheques to be cashed even though the accounts they were drawn on did not contain sufficient money, and the money stolen from the bank in this way was then shared among members of the criminal association.

The court found that Novela and Loveve also recruited relatives into the bank with the sole purpose of taking part in the fraud.

Two other accused, Osvaldo Lifanissa and Elton Machado, were sentenced to three years imprisonment, while Salmina Muthombene, Fernando Chiluvane and Joaso Mendes were sentenced to six months converted into a fine. An eighth suspect, Bento Monjane, was acquitted for lack of sufficient evidence.

The judge at the eighth section of the city court, Mussa Facuze, justified the light sentences on the grounds that the accused had all confessed and had cooperated with the court.

The UBA is not at all pleased at the judge’s leniency, particularly because the charge of theft was dropped, and the court only sentenced the seven on lesser charges. The bank’s lawyer promised that the UBA will appeal against the sentence.

Source: AIM News