Maputo — The Mozambican Public Prosecutor's Office is charging the First Secretary of the ruling Frelimo Party in the western province of Tete, Goncalves Jemusse, of acts of corruption, dating from when he was administrator of the Tete district of Chiuta in 2019.
According to Wednesday's issue of the independent newssheet "Carta de Mocambique", the Tete Provincial Anti-Corruption Office has accused Jemusse and five other senior Chiuta officials of embezzlement, abuse of office, falsification of documents, payment of undue remunerations and illicit participation in business.
The other five officials are: Manuel Cebola (Chiuta Permanent Secretary); Raimundo Cebola (Budget Manager); Egrita das Dores Alfredo (staff member of the district finance department); Domingos Puzamado (head of the district local administration department; and Jardito Anastasio (personnel manager).
According to the prosecution, in 2019 Jemusse, the two Cebolas and Egrita das Dores decided to transfer 300,000 meticais (about 4,700 US dollars, at the current exchange rate), which should have been spent on legitimate expenses, to their own personal bank accounts.
The proposal was drawn up by Raimundo Cebola, as budget manager, and received a favourable opinion from Manuel Cebola. The transfer was then authorized by Jemusse.
The prosecutors gave a breakdown of how much money went into the accounts of the accused and on what dates.
To justify use of the money, Jemusse, Raimundo Cebola and Egrita das Dores used their senior positions to produce travel permits that supposedly proved they needed the funds for activities undertaken outside of Chiuta town. There were nine travel permits for Jemusse, five for Cebola and two for Egrita das Dores.
But the prosecution says the activities outside of the town that these permits referred to never happened, and the documents were therefore fakes.
All three of these accused also claimed that the money was used to pay debts to service providers incurred by the district secretariat.
Five months after the first transfers, in November 2019, Jemusse, Manuel Cebola and Raimundo Cebola used the district government's money to buy motorcycles and helmets from the company "Nova Era Servicos" for 923,260 meticais.
These purchases did not follow the rules for public procurement, and the prosecutors concluded that at least four of the motorcycles (of the Chinese Dayun make) were grossly over-invoiced. The average cost of a Dayun motorcycle in Tete at the time was 48,000 meticais, yet Jemusse and the two Cebolas paid 189,500 meticais each for the four motorcycles.
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On occasions when public procurement procedures were apparently followed, Raimundo Cebola sat on the jury, even though he had interests in companies bidding for contracts with the district government. He is a partner in Mbuluma MB and F ltd, which won tenders for providing hygiene and cleaning materials, air conditioners and computer maintenance.
In December 2019, the Tete Provincial Directorate of Economy and Finance sent 50,000 meticais to Chiuta, which was supposed to cover expenses of teachers involved in monitoring school exams. But the prosecution accuses Jemusse of pocketing the entire sum.
Jemusse is also accused of hiring his wife, Madalena Fraqueza, to fill a vacancy in the Chiuta District Secretariat. She was given a contract, but did no work. Nonetheless, she was paid about 47,000 meticais between October 2021 and May 2022 when she was suspended.
The prosecution regards the hiring of Fraqueza as fraudulent, and she was paid wages to which she was not entitled.
No date has yet been set for this case to come to trial.
