Mozambique: Dondo Mayor on trial for ilegal payments -AIM report

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Mozambique: Dondo Mayor on trial for ilegal payments -AIM report

5:48 CAT | 12 Mar 2021

Photo: Sala da Paz

The mayor of the central Mozambican municipality of Dondo, Manuel Chaparica, and the Dondo first secretary of the ruling Frelimo Party, Felisberto Chero, are on trial before the Dondo District Court, charged with making and receiving undue payments.

According to a report in the Beira daily paper “Diario de Mocambique”, the allegedly illicit scheme dates back to March 2019, when Chaparica hired Cheiro as his adviser for political and administrative matters, paying him a monthly wage of 17,318 meticais (231 US dollars at current exchange rates).

But Cheiro was already employed by the State in the Dondo District Education, Youth and Technology Services. Thus Cheiro was receiving two wages from the state, which is illegal under the Public Probity Law.

Furthermore, Cheiro admitted to continuing to draw wages from Dondo Municipal Council even for periods when he was not working there.

According to prosecuting attorney, Lisandre Santos, speaking on Wednesday, the first day of the trial, Cheiro said Chaparica told him to sign the attendance book, even for the days when he was not at the Municipal Council.

Santos said that, in reality, Cheiro did no work for the Council, and the contract only benefited himself, with no counterpart for the municipality. Chaparica, she accused, had consciously and deliberately paid wages to Cheiro, to the detriment of Dondo municipality, thus committing the crime of paying undue remunerations.

Chaparica’s defence was that the contract with Cheiro was “precarious”, and ended last year “for administrative reasons”.

Cheiro claimed that he worked as an adviser to the Mayor as from 15.30 every day after finishing his work in the district education services. He said that his task as an adviser was to meet with community leaders in order to gauge their level of satisfaction with the basic services provided by the municipality.

Cheiro claimed the local education directorate had authorised him to take a second job, but when the head of administration and planning in the district education services, Chico Chinoreua, gave evidence, he denied that his institution knew that Cheiro was also working for the municipality.

The trial has been adjourned until next Monday.

Source: AIM