Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Public Prosecutor’s Office has called for the maximum prison sentences for former Labour Minister Helena Taipo, and ten others accused of stealing 113 million meticais (1.8 million US dollars, at the current exchange rate) from the Labour Ministry’s National Directorate of Migrant Labor (DTM) in 2014/15.
Presenting its final arguments on Tuesday to the Maputo City Court, the prosecution also demanded that the defendants pay back in full the stolen money.
The other key defendants include the former National Director of Migrant Labor, Anastácia Zitha; the former head of the DTM Finance Sector, José Mondlane; and the former Coordinator of Social Reinsertion Projects for Former Miners and their Dependents, Pedro Taimo.
The prosecution case is that the Labour Ministry and DTM officials involved, and the managers of the private companies with which the DTM forged contracts, formed a group with a plan to appropriate public funds, as well as to harm the former miners and their dependents, by seizing their funds for their own benefit.
“There are plenty of facts”, said the prosecuting attorney, “including the failure to comply with procedures, the fraudulent issuing of invoices and receipts, the transfer of sums to private accounts, all with the intention of defrauding the state”.
The prosecution also stated it was proven, during the two months long trial, that the authorizations of payments made by Helena Taipo opened space for the embezzlement of funds in the DTM, through a scheme in which all the defendants implicated took part.
In turn, the defence lawyers claimed that the alleged embezzlement had not been proven in court, much less the participation of the former minister in the schemes to forge contracts between the DTM and various private companies.
“The defendant Helena Taipo, as minister, acted within her powers, authorizing payments to enable the projects previously programmed in the 2013 Economic and Social Plan”, claimed Taipo’s lawyer.
The defence also said that the construction of a house in favor of Taipo and her family, in the Muhaivire neighbourhood, in Nampula province, costing five million meticais paid by the DTM, was not proven in court. It challenged the prosecution to indicate the property’s location, the blueprint for building it or other evidence, since Taipo categorically denies having anything to do with it.
The defence claimed the prosecution had been unable to say exactly how much money was involved in the case, much less the distribution of the amount among the defendants. Furthermore, the lawyers alleged that about 64 million meticais was not diverted from the DTM circuit, since it was advanced to pay the miners’ deferred wages.
The lawyers for Anastácia Zitha, José Monjane and Pedro Taimo all claimed that their clients acted within their powers and duties. They did, however, admit that they made some “administrative mistakes”, without intending to harm the State and much less the miners to whom they provided services.
As for the defendants from the private companies with whom the DTM forged contracts for the supply of goods and services, namely, Dezheng Cheng, Dalila Lalgy, Hermenegildo Nhatave, Baltazar Mungoi and Alfredo Lucas, their lawyers all claimed they could not be accused of embezzlement, because this crime, as defined in Mozambican law, can only be committed by employees and agents of the State.
The judge, Ivandra Uamusse, has set 28 July as the date for giving her verdict and sentence.
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