Imagem: Transparência Internacional
Maputo 19 Aug (AIM) – Mozambique’s Central Office for the Fight against Corruption (GCCC) recorded, over the last six months, corruption cases estimated at over 3.2 billion meticais (about 50 million US dollars at the current exchange rate).
According to GCCC spokesperson, Romualdo Johnam, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, in Maputo, the authorities recorded 1,646 cases in the first half of 2026, compared to 1,509 during the same period in 2025, which means that there was an increase of 137 cases.
The authorities so far managed to recover almost 600,000 meticais.
“The total cases processed during the period under review, 559 were concluded, compared to 491 in the first half of the previous year. Of the concluded cases, 368 resulted in formal charges being filed, while 191 were shelved”, he said.
He explained that among the various types of crimes recorded, passive corruption involving illegal actions act was one of the most frequent, with 306 cases. This was followed by abuse of power (144 cases), active corruption (103), false representation of authority (74), embezzlement (68), and money laundering (07 cases).
Johnam also revealed that the GCCC arrested and charged at least nine police officers for alleged involvement in offences of passive corruption, abuse of power and unlawful detentions.
“Prosecutors initiated criminal proceedings against police officers, accusing them of bribing magistrates and criminal investigation officers, after they had gone to a car dealership to demand payment of one million meticais to drop an investigation”, he said.
Two other members of the country’s National Service of Criminal Investigation (SERNIC) officers also faced arrest and charges for alleged passive corruption “They had demanded payments from a suspect in exchange for not executing an arrest warrant, and the defendants are now awaiting the court’s ruling whilst on bail”, he said.
Last April, SERNIC, in coordination with the GCCC, detained the Director-General of the National Social Security Institute (INSS), Joaquim Siúta; the Financial Director, Jaime Nhavene; the head of INSS procurement, José Chidengo; and a businessman named Aboobacar Sumaila for being involved in embezzling over 433 million meticais (6.7 million US dollars, at the current exchange rate).
Am/
