Allegedly corrupt municipal staff presented publicly

Maputo, 20 May (AIM) – Mozambique’s National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) on Monday presented in public four of the eight staff of Maputo Municipal Council who were arrested last week on charges of corruption.

According to a report in the independent daily “O Pais”, the four work in the finance and human resources departments of the municipality. They are accused of stealing receipt books, and of forging deposit slips, referring to the payment of assorted municipal taxes and fees, and of falsifying construction certificates.

Last week the Mayor of Maputo, Razaque Manhique, conformed the arrests, but on Monday all four suspects denied the charges against them. None of them have yet been named.

According to a Sernic spokesperson, “one of those detained holds a leadership position in the municipality, and his function in the scheme was to facilitate access to the receipt books in order to issue documents which supposedly proved payment of documents on land use, and other authorisations that fall within the scope of the municipal council.

Sernic says it is still calculating how much money the municipal council lost because of this fraud, but believes that each of the fraudulent documents used cost at least 50,000 meticais (about 780 US dollars, at the current exchange rate).

Asked about the latest kidnapping of a business person in Maputo, last week, the Sernic spokesperson admitted that the police have no idea where the victim is being held.

(AIM)

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