Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique’s government said on Friday that the decision to renew the contract with the South African company in charge of the recovery of national carrier Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM) depends on clarifying “very critical details”.
The South African firm Fly Modern Ark (FMA) was hired in April to implement a restructuring and recovery plan for LAM. Its mission at the carrier ends in April and it is not known whether or not the agreement will be renewed.
“The conclusion or renewal of the contract” depends on the clarification of “very critical details”, said Mozambique’s Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications, Amilton Alissone, speaking to journalists.
Alissone said that the aspects that must be overcome are being discussed with the FMA.
“All [the aspects] need to be properly resolvedbefore taking any steps,” he said.
The Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications said that the government had not yet evaluated the “performance indicators” that are in the agreement with the FMA.
“We have to evaluate the performance indicators, which have not yet arrived at the table, as soon as they do, we will evaluate them and take a firmer stance,” declared Amiton Alissone.
On 12 February, LAM’s restructuring director denounced a scheme to embezzle money, with losses of at least €3 million, from ticket shops using automatic payment terminal (TPA/POS) machines that do not belong to the company.
“We did a lightning job with LAM’s internal security to collect all the POS and, of LAM’s 20 ticket sales points, we had collected 81 POS by Sunday. There are some shops where the managers themselves don’t recognise the machines and say they don’t even know who they belong to,” said Sérgio Matos at a press conference in Maputo.
In reaction to these complaints, the Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE), the organisation that manages the state-owned business sector in Mozambique, announced this week that it wants to see the alleged embezzlement and acts of internal sabotage at the state-owned airline LAM investigated and asked the Public Prosecutor’s Office to investigate.
“The IGEPE reiterated its commitment to fairness, transparency and legality in the management of public capital and expresses its willingness to collaborate with the investigations in order to ascertain the truth,” said a statement.
In view of the seriousness of the information that has come to light, the IGEPE has instructed the FMA and LAM to investigate the facts and immediately channel the suspicions to the competent authorities, and a request for an investigation has been submitted to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Maputo city, the institute added.
LAM operates 12 destinations on the domestic market, at regional level it flies regularly to Johannesburg, Dar es Salaam, Harare, Lusaka and Cape Town, and Lisbon is its only intercontinental destination.
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