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Mozambique: INSS former chairperson released – AIM report
11:34 CAT | 17 Apr 2020
Supreme Court, Maputo. [File photo:Noticias]
The Mozambican Supreme Court has ordered the release of the former chairperson of the National Social Security Institute (INSS), Francisco Mazoio, according to a report in Thursday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”.
Mazoio was acquitted in late March on charges of abuse of office and embezzlement, concerning the use of INSS funds to acquire aircraft for the company CR Aviation. But he is also an accused in a second case, concerning a supposedly fraudulent real estate deal in the northern district of Nacala-a-Velha.
The charge sheet had gone to court, but Mazoio lodged an appeal against the case going to trial. This appeal had not been heard when the legal period of preventive detention for Mazoio expired, and his lawyer launched a habeas corpus suit, which the Supreme Court accepted.
The Nacala-a-Velha deal involved the INSS and Indico Dourado, a consultancy and investment company in which an Italian-Mozambican engineer, Emiliano finochi, and a lawyer, Henriques Machava, are involved.
A source in this company, cited by “Carta de Mocambique”, claimed that there was nothing corrupt or illegal about the proposed Nacala-a-Velha deal. Following a study made in 2014, the INSS decided to make real estate investments in each of Mozambique’s provinces, which would supposedly have generated significant income for the institution.
Indico Dourado responded with a project in Nacala-a-Velha, involving an office complex covering 10,000 square metres, and a luxury beach resort with 48 rooms.
Indico Dourado undertook the necessary viability studies, acquired title to the land, and drew up the engineering project. This source claimed that the negotiations between Indico Dourado and the INSS followed all the required legal procedures and the deal was approved by the Administrative Tribunal.
The Central Office for the Fight against Corruption (GCCC) has a completely different view of the matter. The INSS signed a contract worth over 371 million meticais (about 5.5 million US dollars) with Indico Dourado, and the GCCC believed this money served private interests and not the interests of the INSS.
Source: AIM
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