Mozambique PGR’s action on hidden debts is “very important step” – World Bank

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Mozambique PGR’s action on hidden debts is “very important step” – World Bank

1:04 CAT | 08 Feb 2018

Notícias / Mark Lundell, World Bank country director for Mozambique.

The step taken by the Mozambique Attorney General’s Office (PGR) in suggesting the financial accountability of those responsible for the country’s hidden debt to the Administrative Tribunal is a “very important step”, World Bank director for Mozambique Mark Lundell says.

“We see the PGR’s action as a very important step,” he said in Maputo when asked about the PGR’s position by journalists.

“We see this kind of follow-up as important. It’s a good step which must be followed by others in the short term,” he added.

Lundell said that this was the type of decision that could “establish good prospects for international cooperation on all sides”.

The PGR announced last week that “the Public Prosecutor’s Office submitted to the Administrative Court, on January 26, a complaint regarding the financial accountability of public managers and state-owned companies” who contracted undisclosed debt of two billion dollars between 2013 and 2014.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) representative in Mozambique said the move was “encouraging”, but reiterated “the need to fill information gaps in the audit report” on the three companies involved in the financial scandal.

The Mozambican Centre for Public Integrity NGO has described the PGR’s position as “a set of nullities” that “serves to give the public the misperception that measures are being taken with a view to accountability of managers and public entities”.

“What is required, and which is not happening and should be of concern to the PGR, is the clarification of the criminal matter,” the NGO says.

This position is in line with that held by Mozambican commentators Roberto Tibana and Fernando Lima, as reported by Lusa.

Source: Lusa