Africa-Press – Mozambique. The commercial section of the Judicial Court of Nampula Province ordered, this week, the revocation of the restraining order and consequent lifting of the freezing of assets decreed against ETG and other groups, due to the lack of the necessary conditions for its maintenance, apparently putting an end to the lawsuit opposing ETG and the Royal Group, which had filed the lawsuit.
It should be recalled that the Royal Group had filed an injunction for the freeze of assets of four large commercial and industrial groups operating in Nampula.
This injunction was granted and assets in various goods, bank accounts, real estate and even ships that were in the process of loading or unloading of goods were frozen.
Three of the companies ended up entering into an agreement with the Royal Group, allegedly paying astronomical amounts to avoid greater losses, which were adding up on a daily basis, but the ETG Group maintained its position until the adversarial principle was exercised.
The court order, which lifts the asset freezing, mentions at a given moment that it was proved that these two companies are dedicated to the marketing of agricultural products and that on 25 August of this year the Royal Group exported a large amount of bulk soybeans to India and that, arrived in the port of Mumbai and in the middle of the unloading process, the Special Intelligence Office of that country ordered its stoppage.
“… it prohibited the unloading, allegedly because they were GMO products (genetically modified organisms), an action carried out on account of an anonymous tipoff coming from the Republic of Mozambique”, reads the order.
The order clarifies that the hearing of the witnesses proved that there is not and never has been a commercial relationship between the applicant and the defendant, and consequently there are no debts between them.
The Royal Group supported its claim on the basis of a criminal proceeding, brought against unknown persons running its procedures at SERNIC, where in the investigation a citizen was heard and declared that it had been the defendant’s workers who had made the tipoff.
After further reasoning, the judge’s order ends by explaining that the ETG group is a reputable company, which has been operating for more than 23 years, “having considerable economic solvency and a vast patrimony, which clearly demonstrates financial strength”.
Thus ends a “soap opera” between trade giants in Nampula, with billions of dollars spinning around and spoken of as if they were cents of the metical.
The ETG group resumed its activities to the relief of its workers, who saw their jobs threatened and their families harmed.
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