Hidden debts: Judge considers proven that defendants formed criminal group

The judge in the case of "hidden debts" yesterday considered proved that the defendants formed a "criminal group to seher to the resources of the State", committing "various crimes".

Efigénio Baptista was speaking on the second day of reading the sentence of the case, marked by the disclosure of the findings that the court drew from the prosecution of the public prosecutor and the evidence gathered during the trial hearings.

Baptista pointed out that "it was settled" throughout the process that Ndambi Guebuza, the eldest son of former President Armando Guebuza, as well as former leaders of the State Information and Security Service (SISE) and other defendants acted in concert to consummate fraud fueled by the money of hidden debts.

The judge aimed more harshly ndambi Guebuza, considering that it proved that he received 33 million dollars (31.4 million euros) to "move influence" with his father for the approval of the project of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EZE), used as a pretext for the contraction of debts.

Ndambi Guebuza or "Junior", as it is treated in the correspondence between the defendants, "for having the same name as the father, asked for money to submit the proposal", emphasized the magistrate.

It was the involvement of the eldest son of the then head of state that allowed the process to be quickly approved by Armando Guebuza, because before this intervention, the operation was dragging on, he continued.

Efigénio Baptista also argued that "it proved" that the main defendants in the case already had friendship or business relationships, which facilitated their criminal association to snise the Mozambican state.

The defendants, he continued, traveled several times abroad to prepare the hidden debts scheme.

For Ephigenia Baptista it has also been demonstrated that all the defendants targeted today in their allegations, received bribes for their role in the scheme.

The magistrate also said that it was shown that Ndambi Guebuza lied by stating in court that he did not know some of the main defendants in the case.

With the report of the assessment of evidence on part of the defendants, still lacks the assessment of the evidence of involvement of the remaining implicated, followed by the reading of the sentences - which should happen on Saturday or Sunday.

On Wednesday, the judge justified the five days of reading the sentence with "the volume of the process", noting that he wants to read "each of the 1,388 pages" of the judgment.

"We have a sentence of 1,388 pages" resulting from a process with "a volume of more than 30,000 pages," said Efigénio Baptista, who has already announced the continuation of the work over the weekend.

In the dock are 19 defendants accused by the Mozambican public prosecutor of involvement in a scheme that defrauded the state of more than 2.7 billion dollars (2.6 million euros) of debt contracted with international banks between 2013 and 2014.

The loans were endorsed by the Government of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), then led by Guebuza, without knowledge of parliament and the Administrative Court. (Lusa)