Ministro do Interior, Paulo Chachine, discursa na cerimonia de tomada de posse de novos oficiais comissários da policia e do SERNIC. Foto de Santos Vilanculos
Maputo, 24 Feb (AIM) – The Mozambican Tax Authority (AT) has decided to withhold weapons imported into the country by a company partly owned by the interior minister, Paulo Chachine.
According to an investigation by the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), the company in question is Nello Gonçalves Filho Espingardaria e Carreira de Tiros. According to the CIP report, the AT suspects that the company made a false import declaration describing the shipment as hunting weapons, when they are in fact military grade weapons.
The company was registered in April 2021, and its statutes were published in the official gazette (the “Boletim da Republica”) in May 2021.
Chachine is one of two listed shareholders. His partner, Pedro Goncalves, holds 70 per cent of the share capital, while Chachine holds the remaining 30 per cent.
CIP points out that Chachine finds himelf in “a clear conflict of interest under the Public Probity Law, which states that a conflict of interest occurs when a public servant finds himself in circumstances where his personal interests (…) may interfere with the fulfillment of his duties of impartiality in the pursuit of the public interest”.
“This is the first case of conflict of interest that will test the seriousness of the speech of Daniel Chapo as President of Mozambique, because during his inauguration, he promised to break with old and harmful practices in the management of public affairs and warned that he would be ruthless with bad practices by public servants”, reads the document.
CIP had already warned that Chapo’s government includes ministers who have business interests in the sectors for which they were appointed, which increases the risk of conflicts of interest in public procurement.
CIP listed those with potential conflicts of interest, in addition to Chachine, as Estevão Pale, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy; João Matlombe, minister of Transport and Logistics; Paulo Chachine, Interior Minister; Cristovão Chume, Defence Minister; Inocêncio Impissa, Minister of Public Administration; Nyeleti Mondlane, Minister of Veterans Affairs; Ricardo Sengo, Minister of Administration in the President’s Office; Mateu Saize, Justice Minister; and Roberto Albino, Agriculture Minister.
(AIM)
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