Maputo, 5 Apr (AIM) – The commission of enquiry set up by the Justice Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the Foreign Ministry has confirmed that three Turkish citizens were indeed illegally granted Mozambican nationality.
The case was denounced last year by the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP).
According to the Permanent Secretary of the Justice Ministry, Justino Tonela, who was speaking to reporters on Thursday, the scheme to provide false identity documents was headed by some employees of the National Directorate of Civil Identification.
“We found the existence of false birth transcripts issued in 2013. We also confirmed that false nationality documents were issued in 2020”, Tonela said.
The Permanent Secretary explained that once the irregularities were found, the joint commission, which had already missed the initial deadline of 5 February for presenting the results of the investigation, left a series of recommendations, starting with the application of disciplinary proceedings against those involved in the case.
“Disciplinary proceedings have been opened against some agents and state officials for negligence in their actions and it is recommended that the final report be sent to the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption (GCCC)”, Tonela said.
For his part, the representative of CIP, Borges Nhamirre, said that his organization, as the whistleblower, hopes for exemplary accountability in order to discourage similar scenarios among civil servants.
“We can’t claim to be satisfied with the conclusion that foreign citizens are buying nationality in Mozambique. That shouldn’t please anyone, because it means greater vulnerability for our country. Now we expect exemplary criminal accountability”, he said.
Nhamirre added that the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) has the responsibility to investigate and take criminal action against those who break the law, “so that we may have exemplary punishment”.
(AIM)
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