United States and EU propose forensic audit of Mozambique debt

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United States and EU propose forensic audit of Mozambique debt

3:35 CAT | 14 Jun 2016

The Ambassador of the United States and the European Union representative in Maputo proposed at separate meetings with the Mozambican president last Friday a forensic audit of Mozambique’s so-called secret debts as a way of restoring the country’s credibility with its creditors.

US Ambassador Dean Pittman expressed his country’s willingness to contribute to peace.

“We are available to do anything we can because we are partners and friends of Mozambique, hence we want the same thing that the Mozambican people want, which is peace,” Pittman told reporters, saying that “the steps the government has taken this week are very good, but only a beginning”.

“The confidence of the international community is low and government has to increase its credibility. We believe that the government needs to conduct an independent forensic audit to find out exactly what happened and what the way forward will be,” Pittman said.

European Union representative Sven Burgsdorff, who also met President Nyusi, said he felt that Mozambique had already taken good steps to restore the confidence of donors and said that he believed that the forthcoming mission of the International Monetary Fund would help restore confidence.

“We are not talking about of the goods that were eventually acquired within the Proindicus and MAM loans because there is not yet a forensic audit that shows us what the situation is. At this point the donors, meeting in the G14 group, are evaluating the consequences and the possibility of continuing support to the state budget, taking into account the loans to these companies and pending an evaluation,” explained Burgsdorff.

On Wednesday of last week, the UK High Commissioner in Maputo, Joanna Kuenssberg, demanded an international judicial audit to verify Mozambique’s debt situation as a way of restoring the British government’s confidence in Mozambique.

Source: VOA Portugues