LAM workers demand accountability for corrupt officials

Maputo, 16 Feb (AIM) – The trade union committee of the publicly-owned company Mozambique Airlines (LAM) has demanded accountability for all those allegedly involved in embezzlement and other corrupt schemes which have been harming the operations of the company, as it fights to recover from bankruptcy.

The workers’ demand came after the LAM top management denied accusations of embezzlement of around 3.2 million dollars recently raised by Fly Modern Ark (FMA), the South African company which was hired by the government to bring LAM into profitability and rescue it from bankruptcy.

The workers, in a letter issued on Thursday, regretted that they had only found out about the alleged embezzlement through the media, although “the union is the body that by law should be informed in the first instance of all matters related to the work force, and in this matter it has not had this information, either from Fly Modern Ark, or from the general management of LAM.”

The LAM workers called for exemplary punishment for wrongdoers in the company.

“The union is not in favour of workers and managers from the bottom to the top who squander and misappropriate LAM’s assets. Therefore, it encourages the exemplary accountability of any wrongdoer by the competent internal and external bodies”, reads the letter.

The workers also insisted that measures should be taken on the basis of the law and internal regulations in order to hold accountable those involved in corrupt schemes intended to harm the company.

“The union distances itself from these accusations because it believes that if there is material evidence of a worker or group of workers who are committing sabotage, they should be identified, investigated and held accountable in accordance with the Labour Law and the company’s internal regulations”, says the letter.

Under the FMA administration, the company resumed direct flights from Maputo to Lisbon, after an interruption of 12 years. It has also acquired its first Boeing 737-300 freighter, in order to meet the demand for the transport of goods.

(AIM)

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