Maputo — A witness in the Carlos Cardoso murder trial on Wednesday recalled how Osvaldo Muianga ("Dudu") had once accused Anibal dos Santos Junior ("Anibalzinho") of "devouring all the money" paid for the murder.

This witness, Luis Matusse, said he had been on friendly terms with Muianga from September 2000 to January 2001, and that Muianga had introduced him to Anibalzinho.

(Muianga who has testified twice so far in the trial has admitted to being part of the same criminal network as Anibalzinho, and of attending meetings at which murder was planned. He is one of those charged with the attempted murder of lawyer Albano Silva in 1999.) But relations between Muianga and Anibalzinho soured in early 2001, and when Muianga learnt, from the Sunday paper "Domingo", that Anibalzinho had been arrested in Swaziland (in February 2001), he exclaimed to Matusse "That's excellent ! He devoured all the money for himself".

The money in question was 150 million meticais (about 6,300 US dollars) which Momade Assife Abdul Satar ("Nini"), one of those charged with ordering Cardoso's murder, had sent to Anibalzinho via Muianga in September 2000.

Muianga described the money as "fuel for the operations", but did not tell Matusse what "operations" he had in mind.

Matusse assumed that Muianga was annoyed with Anibalzinho because he thought that, as the courier, he deserved a share of the money.

Matusse said "I didn't think Dudu was being honest with me", and even described Muianga as "a snake".

Matusse testified on Wednesday in order to expunge his perjury of 11 December. Then he had told the court virtually nothing, playing down everything that he had claimed, during the preliminary investigations, to know about Anibalzinho and Muianga. The presiding judge, Augusto Paulino, ordered his detention for perjury, and this seems to have jogged Matusse's memory. His Wednesday testimony is in line with what he told prosecutors earlier.

But Matusse only spent ten days in jail, before his lawyer managed to persuade a lower court to release him until a trial for "false declarations", set for 12 January.

Judge Paulino was not amused. "It is this court that should have ordered your release", he told Matusse. "The case hasn't even finished. This is a very serious matter".

He ordered court officials to find out from the court in Maputo urban district number one the exact justification for releasing Matusse.