Taipo trial: Accused admits to being instructed in how to answer court questions – AIM report

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Taipo trial: Accused admits to being instructed in how to answer court questions – AIM report

2:55 CAT | 04 May 2022

File photo: Domingo

One of those accused in the case of 11 people, including former Labour Minister Helena Taipo, charged with the theft of 113 million meticais (about 1.8 million US dollars at the current exchange rate) from the Labour Ministry’s Directorate of Migrant Labour (DTM) in 2014-15, admitted on Tuesday that he had received instructions by email about what he should say in court.

Baltazar Mungoi told the Maputo City Court that Mauricio Chirinda, the husband of Anastacio Zitha, the former National Director of Migrant Labour, had sent him a list of questions the court might ask, and how he should reply.

Zita is regarded as one of the masterminds behind the theft. Chirinda has refused to testify as a witness (the law allows husbands to decline to give evidence that might incriminate their spouses).

Mungoi’s company, Bela Eventos, is among those that provided the Migrant Labour Directorate (DTM) with fake invoices and receipts, for fictitious services. Mungoi admitted that he had provided the false documents to help the DTM explain to the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption (GCCC) what had happened to six million meticais the DTM could not account for.

He said Chirinda had sent him various possible questions and suggested answers. One question the court might ask, he recalled, was “Did your company sign a contract with the Ministry of Labour? What was its purpose? I would have to reply ‘Yes, we signed a contract, and it was for the provision of services’ “.

As for how Bela Eventos was hired, Mungoi was supposed to reply that he did not remember. The method of payment. Chirinda told him, was in cash, and he had to tell the court he did not recall who in the DTM handled the six million meticais.

Chirinda told Mungoi to avoid mentioning dates. “I would have to say that I was going to look it up in the documents”, he said.

The court called Taipo herself to testify again, asking her how she could explain the use of 91 million meticais which should, in principle, have been channelled to the treasury.

According to the prosecution Taipo authorised raiding a DTM account for this sum on 15 January 2014, but did not request authorisation from the Ministry of Finance until 7 July, saying that her Ministry needed the revenue to implement its Economic and Social Plan. But there was no answer to that request, and she assumed that meant authorisation.

“In the public administration, silence means tacit consent”, she claimed.

When the judge pointed out that the 91 million meticais was used long before Taipo asked for authorisation, the former minister did not reply.

Source: AIM