{"id":13878,"date":"2022-02-11T16:58:38","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T16:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/?p=13878"},"modified":"2022-02-11T15:30:51","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T15:30:51","slug":"hidden-debts-trial-the-enemy-captured-our-security-aim-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/hidden-debts-trial-the-enemy-captured-our-security-aim-report","title":{"rendered":"Hidden debts trial: \u201cThe enemy captured our security\u201d- AIM report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. <\/strong><\/span>The crisis of Mozambique\u2019s \u201chidden debts\u201d arose because \u201cthe enemy captured our security and we are suffering from this\u201d, declared former Interior Minister Alberto Mondlane on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Maputo City Court, as a witness in the trial of 19 people accused of financial crimes in connection with the debts incurred in 2013 and 2014 by the three fraudulent companies Proindicus, Ematum (Mozambique Tuna Company) and MAM (Mozambique Asset Management), Mondlane said that his Ministry was kept in the dark about most of the debts.<\/p>\n

He made clear the \u201cthe enemy\u201d he had in mind was the Abu Dhabi based group Privinvest, and its senior officials such as Iskandar Safa and Jean Boustani.<\/p>\n

Mondlane recalled that the idea of setting up a company that would deal with threats to maritime security (such as piracy and illegal fishing) was first raised in a phone call he received in 2012 from Gregorio Leao, the then general director of the State Security and Intelligence Service (SISE).<\/p>\n

The whole idea came from SISE, he said, notably from Leao and from the then head of Economic Intelligence, Antonio Carlos do Rosario, both of whom are among the accused in the current trial. Even the name of the proposed company, Proindicus, came from SISE, he said, and in all the meetings he attended, it was SISE that made the presentations.<\/p>\n

It was SISE that brought the matter to the Joint Command of the Defence and Security Forces, chaired by the then President, Armando Guebuza, and to the Operational Command, headed by the then Defence Minister (and current President) Filipe Nyusi.<\/p>\n

At this stage, Mondlane said, there was no mention of any other companies. \u201cAt no time did the Joint Command discuss Ematum or MAM\u201d, he insisted.<\/p>\n

Mondlane thus frontally contradicted the story told by Rosario, according to which Proindicus, Ematum and MAM were all conceived as parts of an integrated package deal to protect the country\u2019s Exclusive Economic Zone.<\/p>\n

Mondlane could not understand the claim that Ematum and MAM had hidden security functions \u2013 he saw nothing in either company to support this.<\/p>\n

Only later did he come to understand that Privinvest and its leaders were involved in the scheme. Privinvest became the sole contractor for the three companies, and Boustani worked with three corrupt bankers from Credit Suisse to ensure that loans were granted to the companies, despite the fact that they were run by the security service and none of them had any track record.<\/p>\n

The loan money was sent, not to the Mozambican companies, but to Privinvest, which then sent grossly overpriced fishing vessels, radar stations and other assets to Mozambique. The independent audit of the three companies in early 2017 showed that Privinvest had over-invoiced them to the tune of 714 million dollars.<\/p>\n

Mondlane said that matters of financing and procurement were never discussed in either the Joint Command or the Operational Command. Nobody ever asked the Interior Ministry what assets should be purchased.<\/p>\n

He accused the SISE management of the time of concealing information. \u201cAt the Joint Command, we never spoke about Privinvest, Jean Boustani, Iskandar Safa, or running up the debts\u201d, declared Mondlane.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never imagined that a Jean Boustani could come here and distribute money\u201d, he added. The money in question are the bribes paid by Privinvest to Mozambican officials, including Gregorio Leao and Antonio do Rosario.<\/p>\n

Mondlane recalled that he had once worked with Leao and Rosario, and had trusted them. \u201cI never imagined that what I am seeing in this trial could be their work\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t talk about debts in the Joint Command. We didn\u2019t talk about Privinvest\u201d, he added. \u201cOur state security was unable to prevent this from happening\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel betrayed\u201d, said Mondlane. The unfolding scandal of the hidden debts \u201cis not what we discussed at the Joint Command or the Operational Command. SISE should have protected us, instead of hiding information from us\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mondlane categorically denied any knowledge of the 500 million dollars missing from the Ematum loan of 850 million dollars.<\/p>\n

The independent auditors could find no explanation for the missing 500 million. The explanation given at the time was that this money had been syphoned off for defence and security purposes. To bring the Ematum loan to supposedly manageable levels, the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, shifted 500 million dollars to defence, leaving Ematum only 350 million to repay.<\/p>\n

But this was just an accounting trick. The Defence Ministry has repeatedly said it received nothing from the Ematum loan, and Mondlane declared the same was true of the Interior Ministry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ministry received nothing, no money and no assets, and I don\u2019t know anything about these transactions\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

If this money left the banks (Credit Suisse and VTB of Russia), but no trace of it can be found in Mozambique, the sole logical conclusion is that Privinvest is still holding onto it.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mozambique<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. The crisis of Mozambique\u2019s \u201chidden debts\u201d arose because \u201cthe enemy captured our security and we are suffering from this\u201d, declared former Interior Minister Alberto Mondlane on Thursday. Speaking at the Maputo City Court, as a witness in the trial of 19 people accused of financial crimes in connection with the debts incurred […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":13877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8,16],"tags":[233,281,283],"class_list":["post-13878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mozambique","tag-mozambique"],"yoast_head":"\nHidden debts trial: \u201cThe enemy captured our security\u201d- AIM report - Mozambique<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The crisis of Mozambique\u2019s \u201chidden debts\u201d arose because \u201cthe enemy captured our security and we are suffering from this\u201d ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/hidden-debts-trial-the-enemy-captured-our-security-aim-report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hidden debts trial: \u201cThe enemy captured our security\u201d- AIM report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The crisis of Mozambique\u2019s \u201chidden debts\u201d arose because \u201cthe enemy captured our security and we are suffering from this\u201d ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/hidden-debts-trial-the-enemy-captured-our-security-aim-report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mozambique\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-11T16:58:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2022\/02\/img-62068111bd46b.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"470\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/hidden-debts-trial-the-enemy-captured-our-security-aim-report#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/hidden-debts-trial-the-enemy-captured-our-security-aim-report\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Hidden debts trial: \u201cThe enemy captured our security\u201d- AIM report\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-11T16:58:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/hidden-debts-trial-the-enemy-captured-our-security-aim-report\"},\"wordCount\":833,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/hidden-debts-trial-the-enemy-captured-our-security-aim-report#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2022\/02\/img-62068111bd46b.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mozambique\",\"Mozambique\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/hidden-debts-trial-the-enemy-captured-our-security-aim-report#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/hidden-debts-trial-the-enemy-captured-our-security-aim-report\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/hidden-debts-trial-the-enemy-captured-our-security-aim-report\",\"name\":\"Hidden debts trial: \u201cThe enemy captured our security\u201d- AIM report - 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