In Mozambique, mega-trial of 'hidden debt' scandal opens
A view of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, on June 24, 2015 (photo illustration).
ADRIEN BARBIER / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
A historic trial since five years ago, this corruption case had plunged the country into the most serious financial crisis since its independence and implicated part of the Mozambican political class.
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On the
dock
: nineteen people, prosecuted for blackmail, forgery, embezzlement or even money laundering, for amounts of several million euros.
It all started in 2013 and 2014, when three Mozambican public companies contracted nearly two billion euros in loans, officially for shipyard and maritime surveillance projects.
In reality, they would have covered a vast enterprise of corruption for the benefit of those close to power.
In 2016, the scandal broke out, the government admits to having borrowed this money without warning either the Parliament or the donors, who immediately stopped their aid to Mozambique.
The country cannot repay its debts and its currency, the metical, collapses.
It is therefore an extraordinary trial that opened yesterday, under a tent in Machava prison, in Maputo with dozens of witness lawyers and journalists, and hearings scheduled to last two months.
Among the accused:
Ndambi Guebuza
, the son of ex-president Armando Guebuza, but also the former head of the security services, Gregorio Leao.
Former Finance Minister Manuel Chang, also prosecuted in this case, was not present at the opening of the trial.
He is currently in South Africa where he was arrested in 2018 but the South African authorities announced yesterday their decision to extradite him to Mozambique.
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