Maputo, 12 Jan (AIM) – The Maputo Provincial Office for the Fight against Corruption (GPCCM) has charged 10 defendants with abuse of office, failure to promote criminal proceedings and conspiracy.
The defendants in question include a public prosecutor, a judge and eight officers from the police force and the Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic).
According to a note issued on Thursday, the GPCCM explains that, in June 2021, the defendants arrested, in the course of their duties, an individual allegedly of Tanzanian nationality suspected of trafficking drugs from northern Mozambique to Maputo where he supplied them in the part of the city once set aside for military officers, and which is so notorious for illicit drugs that it is commonly known as “Colombia.”
“In a concerted action, the defendants concealed the existence of the drugs in the suspect’s residence, as well as ignoring the relevant steps to discover the material truth, having hastily promoted his release”, reads the statement.
The case was triggered through social media and the GPCCM initiated the respective process.
In another case, also filed following complaints via social media, the GPCCM accused a mother and child nurse at Maputo Provincial Hospital of corruption.
“It emerged that a citizen had gone to the maternity ward of the hospital to give birth, where she was charged a sum of one thousand meticais (about 16 US dollars, at the current exchange rate) by a nurse to provide her with personalized care. And because she didn’t provide the amount requested, the citizen was poorly attended to”, said the GPCCM note.
In this case, six nurses from that sector had been made defendants, but in relation to other defendants, the case was closed “because it was not proven that they had solicited money.”
“Nor has it been proven that the newborn baby girl lost her life as a result of the poor care provided in that maternity hospital”, reads the document.
(AIM)
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