Taipo trial: Money handed over without any legal contracts – AIM report

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Taipo trial: Money handed over without any legal contracts – AIM report

6:26 CAT | 30 Mar 2022

File photo: Domingo

Jose Monjane, the former head of the finance department in the Migrant Labour Directorate of the Mozambican Labour Ministry, on Tuesday told the Maputo City Court that no contract signed by the Directorate between 2013 and 2016 had been authorised by the Administrative Tribunal, the body that oversees the legality of public expenditure.

Monjane is one of 11 people, including former Labour Minister Helen Taipo, on trial for embezzlement and other financial crimes after the discovery that 113 million meticais (about 1.8 million US dollars, at the current exchange rate) had disappeared from the DTM in 2014-2016.

In the second day of his testimony, Monjane also admitted that fees charged by the DTM for the hiring of foreign labour had never been channelled to the Finance Ministry.

Contracts signed by the DTM with private companies were often marked by clear conflicts of interest.

Thus, contracts worth five million meticais were signed between the DTM and the companies Dona Tina Artes and Decoracoes e Mulher Investimentos, supposedly to provide furniture for the Miner’s Office run by senior ministry official Pedro Taimo. But the two companies are both owned by Taimo’s wife, Argentina Taimo. This conflict of interest, the prosecution argues, is a clear violation of the Law on Public Probity.

Another five million metical contract was signed between the DTM and Kuyaka Construcoes, a company owned by a Chinese citizen, to complete the construction of a block of workshops in Malema, in the northern province of Nampula.

But this work was already covered by a contract between Kuyaka Construcoes and the National Employment and Professional Training Institute (INEFP). So Kuyaka was paid twice for the same work by two bodies that are part of the same Ministry. When the judge, Evandra Uamusse, asked Monjane to explain this he said he was carrying out orders from his superiors in the Ministry.

Monjane admitted to signing cheques for the purchase of “end of year baskets” (a form of Christmas present, usually consisting of assorted delicacies and alcoholic drinks).

Yes, he told judge Uamusse, that was his signature on cheques for 200,000 meticais and 650,000 meticais, intended to buy “end of year baskets”, from the Premier supermarket in Maputo. As far as he could recall, he added, both payments had been authorized by Helena Taipo.

Asked if there was any contract between the DTM and Premier, he admitted there was not.

The DTM also paid 188,250 meticais to a second shop, the July Supermarket, for the same purpose. This request, he said, had been made by the DTM Human Resources Department.

Monjane admitted to withdrawing more than ten million meticais from DTN accounts in order to pay wages to Mozambican migrant mineworkers. The South African mining companies are obliged, under their agreements with Mozambique, to channel 60 per cent of the miners’ wages to Mozambique. But when they failed to do so, the DTM advanced the money (a claim which the prosecution denies).

The interrogation of Monjane will continue on Wednesday.

Source: AIM