Prosecutors complain that courts are not hearing corruption cases

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Prosecutors complain that courts are not hearing corruption cases

7:33 CAT | 28 Sep 2017

Notícias

The Mozambican Attorney-General’s Office (PGR) has protested that the country’s courts are not dealing with corruption cases forwarded by prosecutors, but are allowing them to accumulate with no dates fixed for trials.

A source in the PGR, cited in Thursday’s issue of the Maputo daily ‘Noticias’ noted the flagrant example of the former Mozambican ambassador to Russia, Bernardo Xerinda. In March 2016, the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption (GCCC) charged him with embezzlement, abuse of office and payment of undue remunerations. Through these crimes he allegedly stole eight million meticais (about 131,000 US dollars, at current exchange rates) from the Mozambican state.

In the same month, the GCCC charged the former general director of the National Institute of Land Transport (INATTER), Ana Dimande, with abusing her office and making illicit payment. This supposedly cost the state 11 million meticais.

In July 2016, the GCCC charged three officials of the government’s Investment Promotion Centre of a fraud which cost the state coffers 32 million meticais.

In August of the same year the GCCC charged four officials of the Ministry of Economy and Finance with stealing 22 million meticais of state funds.

That same month the anti-corruption office charged the former mayor of the southern town of Manhica, Alberto Chicuamba, and his former councilor for finance, Andrade Machava, of embezzlement and other economic crimes, in which over 1.1 million meticais were stolen.

The GCCC also charged a former Transport Minister (who must be Paulo Zucula) of payment of undue remunerations to the tune of 2.25 million meticais.

The PGR protests that all these cases have stagnated. The failure of the courts to set dates for these trials, it points out, is frustrating attempts to hold officials accused of corruption responsible for their acts.

Source: AIM