Mozambique: Split in health workers union
File photo: O País
Mozambican Attorney-General Beatriz Buchili on Monday swore into office Americo Letela as Director of the Central Office for the Fight against Organised and Transnational Crime and Amelia Munguambe as Director of the Central Office for the Recovery of Assets.
Both are experienced prosecutors “which raises our expectations that they will perform the tasks entrusted to them with responsibility and professionalism”, said Buchili, at the Maputo ceremony.
Mozambique “faces major challenges in fighting organized and transnational crime, such as terrorism, kidnapping, drug trafficking, people trafficking, corruption and money laundering”, she continued.
The two newly established offices “will contribute to improving our performance in investigating and prosecuting these complex crimes”.
The Central Office for the Fight against Organised Crime, Buchili continued, had been set up in strict observance of the United Nations and African Union conventions against terrorism, and Buchili believed the legal bases had now been created “for a more robust intervention by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and by the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic)”.
As for the Central Office for the Recovery of Assets, Buchili argued that, in order to prove the maxim that “crime does not pay”, simply throwing criminals in jail is not enough. “The State must be compensated for all economic and financial losses suffered, and the criminals must be deprived of all the goods resulting from their illicit activities”, she stressed.
Hence the new office had been set up in line with a law on the recovery of assets passed recently by the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic. Munguambe must now, said Buchili, work closely with other bodies, such as Sernic, the Tax Authority (AT) and the Financial Intelligence Office, and pursue all the measures necessary for a speedy and effective recovery of illegally acquired assets.
Since these crimes often span borders, she added, Munguambe and her team must work closely with similar offices in other states.
“We are aware of the human, material and financial limitations that we face”, said Buchili, “but we must undertake efforts and create initiatives that allow us to comply with our mission”.
She urged Letela and Munguambe to work with “humility, transparency, discipline and a sense of mission”, and to motivate their colleagues.
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