Mozambique | ‘Hidden debts’ trial: Reading of sentence postponed to 30 November

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Mozambique | ‘Hidden debts’ trial: Reading of sentence postponed to 30 November

1:59 CAT | 18 Jul 2022

File photo: Lusa

The judge in Mozambique’s principal ‘hidden debts’ trial, Efigénio Baptista, has postponed the reading of the sentence to November 30, on the grounds of the “complexity” of the case.

“Given the special complexity of the case, the […] more than 30,000 pages and the overload of work with the seizures, embargoes and interlocutory appeals, the date of reading the sentence will be postponed,” an order signed by the judge which Lusa has seen today reads.

The reading of the sentence of the trial, which began on August 23, 2021, was scheduled for August 1, but the case judge had already warned of the possibility of it being postponed.

The process involves 19 defendants accused by the Mozambican justice of having associated in a “gang” and defrauding the Mozambican state of about US$2.7 billion (€2.3 billion) raised with government guarantees from international banks.

In its closing arguments, the Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office (PGR) asked the court for a maximum sentence for eight of the 19 defendants, a sentence close to the maximum for ten of the defendants and the acquittal of just one.

The prosecution also asked the court to order the defendants to pay compensation worth US$2.7 billion, the ‘hidden debts’ total, plus interest of US$850,500.00, calculated to 2019.

The loans, worth around €2.3 billion, were endorsed by the government led by Armando Guebuza, without the knowledge of parliament or the country’s Administrative Tribunal watchdog.

Source: Lusa