Mozambique: Kidnapped hospital manager reappears

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Mozambique: Kidnapped hospital manager reappears

7:19 CAT | 19 Feb 2020

Beira Central Hospital, [File photo: Noticias]

The security manager of Beira Central Hospital, Ribeiro Mouzinho, who was feared to have been kidnapped on 8 February, has reappeared, according to a report in Wednesday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”.

Mouzinho and five other hospital workers were detained in December 2019 on suspicion that they were responsible for the theft of nine million meticais (about 139,000 US dollars, at current exchange rates) from the hospital’s funds.

Mouzinho swore that he was innocent and had no idea what happened on the day the money went missing.

According to the spokesperson for the hospital, Bonifacio Cebola, Mouzinho continued working for the hospital after he was released from custody, but disappeared when he was returning from a visit to Tete province. He sent a text message to his daughter on 8 February saying “I am being kidnapped, and I will be killed”.

According to family sources, he reappeared on 12 February, but his behaviour was so altered that his relatives feared he was showing signs of dementia. All that he said, they claimed, showed that he had undergone some form of “aggressive brainwashing”.

These sources insisted that Mouzinho was an honest man, and had not benefited from the theft of the nine million meticais. The other five accused were supposedly living a luxurious life style and “building mansions”, which was not the case with Mouzinho.

His relatives believed that he had been drugged and maltreated, since he could not recall what had happened on the day of the supposed kidnapping. The purpose, they thought, might have been to prevent him from revealing anything he knew about how the money disappeared from the hospital.

Cebola said the case has been referred to the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC), and that Mouzinho has not returned to work after his reappearance.

The spokesperson for the Sofala Provincial Police Command, Daniel Macuacua, told the paper the police have no record of the kidnapping, but would now try to find out what was going on.

Source: AIM