Mozambique: Appeals court keeps judge in hidden debts case – Lusa report

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Appeals court keeps judge in hidden debts case – Lusa report

2:30 CAT | 04 Apr 2022

File photo: Lusa

The Maputo High Court of Appeal has retained the judge of the first instance to debate the request for preventive seizure of assets of the 19 defendants in the main case of hidden debts in Mozambique, a judicial source said on Monday.

The court thus denied the appeal filed by some defence lawyers, who claimed that the judge of the first instance hearing the case, Efigénio Baptista, could not rule on the request of the Public Prosecutor to seize assets, while a request for the magistrate’s removal is pending, which is being analysed by the Supreme Court.

The lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court after they were removed by Efigénio Baptista from the trial of the case of the hidden debt, one of them for having been constituted a declarant in the middle of the hearing of discussion and production of evidence, who ended up not appearing and was subject to a search warrant, and the other two for conduct considered improper by the judge.

The trial was marked by moments of high tension between the court and the lawyers, with the Mozambican Bar Association (OAM) abandoning its role as assistant to the Public Prosecutor in the case because it disagreed with some of the positions of Efigênio Baptista and the public prosecution.

Sentencing in the case of the hidden debts is scheduled for 1 August.

In its final arguments, the Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office asked the court for the maximum sentence for eight of the 19 defendants, close to the maximum sentence for 10 defendants and only one acquittal.

The Mozambican public prosecutor also asked the court that the defendants be ordered to pay compensation of US$2.7 billion (€2.3 billion), corresponding to the total hidden debts, plus interest of US$850.5 billion (€779,000) calculated until 2019.

The loans worth around €2.3 billion were secretly guaranteed by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) government, then led by Armando Guebuza, without the knowledge of parliament or the Administrative Court.

Source: Lusa