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Mozambique: Albano Silva Case - Witnesses Speak of Massive Bribe
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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
6 May 2008
Posted to the web 6 May 2008
Maputo
Those who defrauded Mozambique's largest bank, the BCM, of the equivalent of 14 million US dollars, were prepared to pay large sums to bribe the bank's lawyer, Albano Silva, the Maputo City Court heard on Tuesday.
Witnesses in the trial of six men accused of the attempted murder of Silva in 1999 confirmed that Silva was offered half a million dollars to switch sides and defend the fraudsters rather than the bank.
Julio Tandane and Antonio Fidalgo (a former player in the national football team, better known as "Tonecas") both told the court that they had met on three occasions in early 2000 with Vicente Ramaya, the manger of the BCM branch at which the fraud took place, and a close associate of the two businessmen charged with ordering the murder of Silva, Momad Assife Abdul Satar ("Nini") and his brother Ayob Abdul Satar.
On two occasions Tandane and Fidalgo had bumped into Ramaya casually, and he had asked Tandane, who was a client of Silva's, to arrange for him to meet with the lawyer. This request was made within a couple of months of the November 1999 failed attempt on Silva's life.
Tandane said he passed this request on but Silva "rejected it peremptorily. He did not want to speak to Ramaya. He ruled out any sort of meeting with Ramaya".
Ramaya did not give up, but arranged a meeting with Tandane at a central Maputo restaurant. Here he admitted that his life was being made difficult by Silva's tenacious attempts to bring the BCM case to trial. So he proposed that Silva should clandestinely change sides.
He would continue to be employed by the BCM, but in reality he would betray the bank and work for Ramaya's interests. For these services, Tandane said, Ramaya was prepared to pay Silva half a million dollars. Fidalgo, who was also present, confirmed that this was the thrust of Ramaya's proposal, although he could not remember the exact sum of money involved.
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But some people cannot be bought. When Tandane transmitted Remaya's "offer" to Silva, the lawyer replied that the only thing he wanted from Ramaya was that he should "stop bothering me". Anything that Ramaya had to say to Silva could be said in court, or via his lawyer.
The trial has now run into difficulties because several witnesses have disappeared. The judge, Dimas Marroa, said that all attempts to locate these witnesses had failed. If the court knew where they were, it could send the police to bring them to the trial by force. But the court had no idea of their present whereabouts.
"We don't know whether they're afraid to appear at court, but we can't wait for them", said Marroa. He said a final effort will be made to notify them, and if they do not respond, the only thing the court can do is read into the record the statements they made at earlier stages of the investigation.
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| Copyright © 2008 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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