Africa-Press – Mozambique. Gregorio Leao, the former head of Mozambique’s Intelligence and Security Service (SISE), at the 21st day of the trial of 19 people charged with offences in connection with the scandal of Mozambique’s “hidden debts”, on Monday refused to answer many questions asked by prosecutor Sheila Marrengula on grounds of “national security”.
Like any secret policeman under pressure, Leao took refuge in the threadbare claim that he was “not authorised” to reply to awkward questions.
Early on in the interrogation, he objected to questions about Mulepe, a company set up by Cipriano Mutota, the then head of the SISE Studies and Projects Office, in which his wife Angela Leao was one of the shareholders.
“What are you getting at?”, he snapped at Marrengula. “I’m the one who asks questions here”, she retorted.
“I’m not going to answer this sort of question”, said Leao. “I’ve been arrested because of the debts, and not because of other companies”.
Judge Efigenio Baptista intervened to tell Leao “When the Public Prosecutor asks about Mulepe, it is precisely because this company has something to do with the hidden debts. You cannot say ‘ask me this, don’t ask me that.’ That shows disrespect for the Public Prosecutor’s Office”.
When Marrengula tried to ask him about Txopela Investments, a company effectively run by the former director of economic intelligence in SISE, Antonio do Rosario, Leao said it was an “operational company” (i.e. one run by SISE), and so he could give the court no information about it.
The claim that SISE agents are somehow above the law has been made repeatedly and repeatedly rejected, not only in the Maputo City court, but also in the response to appeals made right up to the Supreme Court.
Baptista and Marrengula were clearly fed up with the accused hiding behind their status as SISE officers, “if these SISE agents were truly defending the country, they wouldn’t be here today”, said Marrengula. “The crimes of which they are accused have nothing to do with defending the state”.
Nobody working for SISE has the right to join a criminal organisation or commit embezzlement (two of the crimes on the charge sheet), she said.
Leao also refused to provide the court with copies of the studies which supposedly justified the project for coastal maritime protection, which eventually led to the creation of Proindicus, the first of the three fraudulent, security-linked companies, which obtained loans of over 2.2 billion US dollars from the banks Credit Suisse and VTB of Russia, on the basis of illicit loan guarantees issued by the government of the day, under former President Armando Guebuza.
He couldn’t bring reports on the project to the court “because the material is classified and I cannot release it”, said Leao.
As for the visits that Rosario had made in 2011 and 2012 to shipbuilding facilities of the Privinvest group in Germany and Abu Dhabi, Leao said he had no reports to give to the court, because Rosario had simply reported to him verbally.
“I didn’t have time to read long reports”, said Leao. “I gave my approval on the basis of the trust I had in my directors”.
Leao admitted that he had not cooperated with the auditors from the company Kroll Associates who drew up a devastating report on Proindicus and the other two fraudulent companies, Ematum (Mozambique Tuna Company) and MAM (Mozambique Asset Management)
He even seemed proud of his role in obstructing the audit. As far as SISE was concerned, Kroll was “a foreign object”, Leao said. “Why should we give classified information to Kroll?”
Because Kroll had been hired by the Mozambican Attorney-General’s Office (PGR)! “The independent audit”, Marrengula stressed, “was part of the criminal proceedings initiated by the PGR”.
Key decisions on the road to setting up Proindicus were taken at the Joint Command of the Defence and Security Forces. Repeatedly, Leao said he could not reveal details of what had been discussed at the Joint Command, and suggested the court should ask the then Coordinator of the Command instead. That man is the then Defence Minister, now President, Filipe Nyusi.
“It’s not me who should answer this”, declared Leao. “Information about the Joint Command should not come from me. I’m not authorised. We had a coordinator, and he should make declarations, not me. The Joint Command had a hierarchy. I was a member, but I’m not going to talk about it”.
Leao’s attempts to drag Nyusi into the case are in line with the demand by Privinvest that Nyusi should testify in the case in London, where the Mozambican state is suing Privinvest, and hopes that the illicit loan guarantees will be declared illegal.
Baptista eventually interviewed to ask Leao who was really in charge of the Joint Command. Who chaired its meetings? After attempting to evade the question, he admitted that in reality the Joint Command was headed by the then President, Armando Guebuza.
Leao also attempted to avoid giving straight answers by embarking on rambling considerations which seemed to have nothing to do with Marrengula’s questions. Eventually the prosecutor demanded that he answer simple questions with a “yes” or “no”.
“I’ve never been treated like this before!”, Leao exploded. “I don’t accept this line of questioning!”
“Don’t raise your voice to the court!”, warned Baptista. “The public prosecutor has every right to ask yes or no questions. Nobody is disrespecting you, but you are showing lack of respect for the prosecutor”.
“Nobody raised their voices to you when you were General Director of SISE. People were afraid of SISE”, added Baptista. “You’re not used to being in this position”.
Although Leao continued to insist that “yes or no questions are no good”, he calmed down But so much time had been wasted, that the interrogation could not conclude, and will continue on Tuesday.
