Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Provincial Office for Combating Corruption in Sofala announced on Tuesday the opening of a case against two World Food Program (WFP) officials suspected of having embezzled eight million meticais (€106,000).
“They made withdrawals through checks on the institution’s accounts and introduced the amounts in their respective patrimonial spheres,” Provincial Office for Combating Corruption spokesperson in Sofala Anastácio Matsinhe told reporters in Beira.
According to Matsinhe, the authorities had one person in detention, while the other, her superior, had resigned from the agency and fled.
“The acts carried out by these officials substantiate the crime of embezzlement,” Matsinhe said, adding that the detained employee confessed to having withdrawn the amounts, although she said they had been handed over in full to the other official, now at large.
If their involvement in embezzlement is proven, the two WFP employees could spend between eight and 12 years in prison.
“These employees are equivalent to public servants, with the WFP being an institution linked to the United Nations Organisation, of which Mozambique is a member and which is an organisation governed by public law,” Matsinhe observed. It was the institution itself that had noticed the disappearance of funds.
Contacted by Lusa, WFP in Mozambique said that the institution had a “zero tolerance policy in relation to the diversion of resources”, and that “all accusations are rigorously investigated”.
“The WFP takes all complaints seriously, and we have mechanisms to deal with misconduct at all levels,” the agency said in a response sent to Lusa.
