Maputo, Mozambique — Mozambican police on Tuesday arrested powerful and wealthy businessmen, Momade Abdul Assife Satar and Ayob Abdul Satar, on the charge of ordering the murder last November of Mozambican journalist Carlos Cardoso.
According to legal sources, Vicente Ramaya, former manager of the Maputo branch of the Commercial Bank of Mozambique (BCM), from which 144 billion meticais (14 million US dollars at the exchange rate of the time) was stolen in 1996, was also arrested in connection with the murder.
It is believed that the three would also be charged with the attempted murder, in 1999, of BCM's lawyer, Albano Silva.
Five men who were allegedly hired to carry out the assassination of Cardoso - Anibal Antonio dos Santos Junior ("Anibalzinho"), Manuel Fernandes ("the dwarf"), Jose Carreira Miguel ("Mulhulhu"), Romao Massangaia and Fernando Magno - were already in police custody.
Ramaya and the Satar brothers are currently being held in Maputo's maximum security prison.
Cardoso had tenaciously followed the story of the BCM theft, and had vigorously championed efforts to bring the culprits to justice.
He had published in his paper, 'Metical', the names of prime suspects, including Ramaya and several members of the Satar family.
The money disappeared from the BCM through the opening of fraudulent accounts in Ramaya's branch in the name of members of the Satar family and others. Dud cheques were put into the accounts, but very real money flowed out of them.
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The case has never come to trial, allegedly due to corruption in the Attorney General's Office.
An attorney who was handling the case, Diamantino dos Santos, is accused of deliberately disorganising the case papers, and hiding key pieces of evidence.
A warrant was issued for dos Santos' arrest in January, and he is currently on the run.
Cardoso had been inconvenient to the Satar family in other ways. He had extended his investigations beyond the BCM to their other unsavoury activities - including allegations of illegal wire-tapping, and loans to other members of the Asian business community at usurious interest rates.
It was suspected that the Satar brothers had used their influence inside the Criminal Investigation Police (PIC) to evade arrest.
Their arrest early Tuesday came as a complete surprise and broke the myth that the Satar brothers are "untouchable".
