Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique’s former president, Armando Guebuza, and the current finance minister, Adriano Maleiane, are among the 69 witnesses who will testify in the hidden debt trial, according to a court list seen by Lusa.
The list is included in the trial programme of the main case of the hidden debts, drawn up by the Judicial Court of Maputo City.
In the schedule, Armando Guebuza will testify on 6 October in a case that has its origins in facts committed when he was head of state.
The former president’s appearance in court is subject to authorisation from the council of state since he is a member of that body.
Another important witness listed by the court is the current minister of economy and finance, Adriano Maleiane, who was already in office when the hidden debts were revealed.
The witnesses’ list includes former Bank of Mozambique governor Ernesto Gove and former interior minister Alberto Mondlane and fisheries minister Vítor Bernardo.
Also on the list, as a witness, is Isaltina Lucas, former National Treasury director and former deputy minister of Economy and Finance.
19 defendants are going to trial, which starts on 23 August, including Armando Ndambi Guebuza, eldest son of Armando Guebuza, the former private secretary of the former President Inês Moiane and his former political advisor Renato Matusse.
Also accused is the former director-general of the State Information and Security Service (SISE), Gregório Leão and the former director of economic intelligence of the institution António Carlos do Rosário.
Twelve of the 19 defendants in the main case, known as hidden debts, are on bail, while seven are awaiting trial in jail.
The hidden debts are related to loans worth $2.2 billion (about €2 billion), contracted between 2013 and 2014 from the British subsidiaries of investment banks Credit Suisse and VTB by Mozambican state companies Proindicus, Ematum and MAM.
The loans were endorsed by the government, led at the time by Armando Guebuza, without the knowledge of parliament or the Administrative Court.
As well as the main case, the Mozambican justice system has opened a separate case in which several other people are suspected of participating in the scheme, including a former finance minister, Manuel Chang, former directors of the Bank of Mozambique, and former executives of Credit Suisse, the bank that made the loans possible. Legal proceedings have also been opened in the US and the UK.
