The US
consulting company Kroll has just submitted its audit report on the so-called
"hidden debts" to the Attorney General's Office (AGO), which is
linked to three state-owned companies - Ematum (Mozambican Tuna Company),
Proindicus and Mozambique Asset Management.
During
the years 2013-2014 these companies contracted a debt in the amount of $ 2.2
billion, with government guarantees, but without the approval of Parliament or
inscribed in the public accounts. This lack of transparency was during Armando
Guebuza's presidential mandate (he became the owner of several state-owned
companies), although the knowledge of this situation was already under Filipe
Nyusi’s mandate.
The
disclosure of the report will be released by AGO, and although no date has been
se yett, the IMF extols this disclosure, hoping that this will happen during
the current month.
It is
essential to re-establish a climate of confidence in government agencies after
such an episode, as this has generated strong indications of budgetary
legislation violation, as well as representing a criminal offense in the form
of abuse of office or function. In addition, as the Mozambican state assumed
the inability to pay benefits to creditors, and the scandal burst (April 2016),
the IMF and other international financial entities froze the various State
budget support.
There
are great expectations about this report, although it has already been pointed
out by the AGO that the judicial confidentiality would be safeguarded.
Several
questions (where is the Money?) have arisen since the beginning of this scandal,
however, the fact that this report was drawn up by an independent foreign
company is already an indication that transparency might not be an unattainable
mirage. Transparency, macroeconomic reforms as well as the struggle for an
effective peace are the foundation of a more reliable State.
Miguel
Verde - Senior Consultant, Professor of International Relations
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