No Decision Yet on Bail for Money Launderers

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No Decision Yet on Bail for Money Launderers

3:15 CAT | 18 Jan 2016

In file Club of Mozambique

A court in the South African town of Barberton on Thursday once again postponed a decision on the bail application from Assane Momad and Abdul Ahmed, the two Mozambicans arrested on Christmas Day as they tried to smuggle the equivalent of 7.3 million US dollars into South Africa.

According to a report on the independent television station STV, the prosecution argued for a delay of seven days, so that it can analyse a report on the two men’s cross-border movements from the immigration services.

However, the judge announced a postponement of only 24 hours, making it clear that she wanted to take a decision on Friday.

The prosecution argued that Momad and Ahmed are a flight risk – if they are granted bail, they might well flee the country rather than remain in South Africa awaiting trial on money laundering charges.

The prosecution pointed to the multiplicity of passports owned by the two men. When arrested, three passports were found in their possession – but it has since been revealed that Momad owns nine passports, and Ahmed five. All are Mozambican passports and all are valid.

The prosecution noted that they had concealed the existence of the other passports from the police, It feared that, unless they are kept in custody, they might use some of their other passports to leave the country, or just slip across the porous border.

The two men have repeatedly travelled between Mozambique and South Africa. The South African immigration services have compiled a 66 page dossier on all their recorded cross-border movements from 1997 to the present.

The defence continued to urge the judge to grant bail, claiming that it was perfectly possible to control all the passports, and ensure that none of them were used to allow either of the men to evade trial,

Meanwhile in Maputo, the national immigration service (SESAMI) is investigating how so many passports were issued to Momad and Ahmed. The issuing of identity documents, both passports and identity cards, is normally excruciatingly slow and inefficient, involving long waits. While ordinary citizens queue up for hours and are frequently told “come back next month”, businessmen with vast amounts of money seem able to acquire as many passports as they like.

SENAMI spokesperson Rosa Caminho told STV that normally a second passport is only issued if the first one runs out of pages for stamps and visas. In such cases, the bearer is allowed to keep the old passport since it may contain valid visas. Thus two valid passports should be the maximum.

Caminho said an investigation is now under way into how Momad and Ahmed obtained 14 passports between them.

Source: AIM