Taipo trial: Witnesses may be charged with perjury – AIM report

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Taipo trial: Witnesses may be charged with perjury – AIM report

7:18 CAT | 09 May 2022

File photo: Domingo

Judge Ivandra Uamusse of the Maputo City Court on Friday threatened to start proceedings for perjury against some witnesses in the case of 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.

Eleven people are on trial in this case, including former Labour Minister Helena Taipo. While there is no obligation on suspects to tell the truth in criminal cases, the same is not true of witnesses who, if caught lying, may face perjury charges.

On Friday morning, Uamusse repeatedly reminded one witness, Carla Muchuane, an accountant who had once worked in the DTM finance department, of her sworn duty to tell the truth.

At the time of the alleged crimes Muchuane had been in charge of making various payments, including of deferred wages owing to Mozambican mineworkers returning from South Africa.

Uamusse noted contradictions between what Muchuane was now telling the court, and her earlier evidence, given in 2017, when she was questioned by the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption (GCCC).

Uamusse said she would probably order extracts from the case file to be sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office to start perjury proceedings “because you’re lying. I’ve warned you several times, but you are continuing to lie in this court. But even with this wave of lies, the court will continue to ask you questions”.

Muchuane had given inconsistent answers about the use made of money taken from DTM accounts, some of which had gone towards buying “baskets” (a type of Christmas present) for the senior leadership of the Labour Ministry, towards assorted social events, and towards buying motorcycles for the staff.

There was also the case of goods belonging to Mozambican miners who died in South Africa. The goods were converted into money which was then sent to the Labour Ministry. Muchuane said the DTM was supposed to contact the families of the deceased miners, and if they could not be found, the money just stayed with the DTM.

Far from satisfied with this answer, Uamusse demanded that the DTM provide the court with bank statements for this account, to find out what had really happened to the money.

Muchuane said that, while she was at the DTM, some of the payments went over her head, and were authorised by the then National Director of Migrant Labour, Anastacia Zitha, or by Taipo herself. This was the case, for example, with the payments to Cocimecam, the company which supplied the motor-cycles, and to Intelica, which installed a computerized payments system.

The final witnesses in the case will be heard next Tuesday, after which the prosecution and the defence will make their closing statements.

Source: AIM