Mozambique: In 2023, over USD 330 million were exported through money laundering says Beatriz Buchili

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Mozambique: In 2023, over USD 330 million were exported through money laundering says Beatriz Buchili

2:38 CAT | 24 Apr 2024

File photo: RM

The Attorney General of the Republic, Beatriz Buchili, delivered her report on the State of Justice and Legality during the year 2023 this morning.

In a context where Mozambique remains on the grey list due to vulnerabilities to money laundering and terrorism financing, Buchili informed that during the year 2023, “the Public Prosecutor’s Office registered 519 money laundering cases, of which 449 resulted from the investigation of preceding crimes such as corruption, drug trafficking, environmental crimes, tax fraud, and kidnappings, and 70 from other situations, against 69 cases from the same period the previous year.”

She added that these investigations allowed understanding the scheme that has been used to export laundered capital. “We have found instances of illegal capital export, using fraudulent mechanisms, simulating the importation of goods that, in reality, do not materialize.

For example, a group of Mozambican and foreign individuals, some of whom are based in the cities of Nacala-Porto and Nampula, established shell companies through falsified documents, using third parties, such as employees or others they trust.”

These shell companies, through different bank accounts, received proceeds from crime. “Without any record of commencing any commercial activity, they started receiving substantial sums of money from other companies created under the same circumstances,” she introduced before going on to detail that “between the years 2019 and 2023, they managed to illegally export an estimated amount of about 330 million dollars, equivalent to 21 billion meticais, to China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, Mauritius Island, Portugal, and Turkey.”

And in these cases, the crime of money laundering was associated with corruption. “The investigations revealed the involvement of public servants and customs brokers in facilitating and issuing documents, as well as bank employees who neglected their duties of examination and control of procedures, thus contributing to the fraudulent establishment of companies, illegal currency export, deposits of substantial sums of money, in cash, and other practices that facilitate money laundering,” she recounted.

Source: O Pais