Mozambique: Dismissed Vilankulo teachers appeal to the Inhambane Administrative Tribunal
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The Budget Monitoring Forum (FMO), a platform for Mozambican civil society organizations, argues that the loss of assets related to illicit activities should cover assets sold to third parties over a full 15 years prior to indictment.
The organization yesterday released an analysis of the proposed asset loss and recovery law the Mozambican government submitted to the Assembly of the Republic earlier this month.
The government argues that the loss of assets associated with illicit activities should extend to the assets that the defendant has alienated to third parties in the five years before charges are brought against him or her.
The proposal establishes a special regime for extended loss of and recovery of assets. But the FMO says the government “fails to treat corruption and related crimes as yet another illegal activity”.
According to the organisation, corruption should be highlighted for several reasons, among them the fact that it is a phenomenon rooted in public administration, which compromises the realisation of the basic functions of the state: offering security, justice and well-being to citizens.
The FMO acknowledges, however, that, when approved and duly applied, the new law will speed up the seizure and administration of assets obtained through illicit means, and will therefore discourage illicit enrichment.
“What is in the hands of others today, part of that, is in the hands of the leaders of this country, people who ran the country. And it has to be retrieved. It shouldn’t be less than five billion dollars,” Forum coordinator Adriano Nuvunga says.
The law that dilutes crime
Justice institutions have claimed that the recovery of assets acquired illegally is hampered by the lack of a legal instrument on the matter. Nuvunga says a specific law is important, but “it did not seem that there was no action on the grounds that it was needed”.
The FMO has proposed a set of amendments to the draft law, and Nuvunga points out that corruption must attract specific treatment, because it derives from the abuse of public power and is therefore different from other illicit acts.
“The way it appears in this draft law is to dilute it. It is to make it lose its due importance. It [the crime of corruption] has to be treated in a different, very visible way, and given the importance and profile it deserves.”
Rule can favour the corrupt
Another controversial point in the draft law has to do with the deadlines established on the loss of assets acquired illegally. For Nuvunga, the term of five years is “negligible.” According to him, it is not uncommon for the transfer of assets to take place before the person is indicted.
“We feel that this period is established in this way to favour the corrupt in this country. The period has to be extended to 15 years,” he insists.
The FMO also does not want the responsibility for creating the Asset Recovery Office to lie with the government. “When you are in charge of the government, it is precisely to avoid having the due importance, and allow the government to manipulate the office. It has to be [created] by law itself, approved by the Assembly of the Republic. Its operation and budget must come directly from the State General Budget.”
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