Former Mozambican Transport Minister sentenced to 10 years in prison

 

Former Mozambican Transport and Communications Minister Paulo Zucula was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for corruption, in a case of aircraft purchase by the state carrier Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM).

In the same case, the Judicial Court of the City of Maputo acquitted the former president of LAM José Viegas for considering that the crime of economic participation in the business of which he was accused was time-barred.

The former executive of General Electric Oil&Gas in Mozambique, Mateus Zimba, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison, accused of having set up the front company used to circulate bribe money.

The Judicial Court of Maputo City sentenced Paulo Zucula and Mateus Zimba to pay around 1.8 million dollars (1.5 million euros), "according to the benefit of each one".

The two defendants were also sentenced to pay the maximum amount of justice tax, the amount of which was not specified.

The seized assets and the frozen bank accounts of Paulo Zucula and Mateus Zimba revert to the State, according to the ruling.

In relation to the former president of LAM, the court decided that the assets must be returned to him and the bank accounts that were under judicial jurisdiction, in the context of the process, must be unfrozen.

Upon leaving the court, the former minister declined to react to the sentence imposed on him.

Tomás Timbana, lawyer for Mateus Zimba, said he would appeal the sentence, considering that the court ignored the evidence produced and convicted his constituent of prescribed crimes.

For his part, José Viegas expressed relief with the acquittal, noting that the decision ends with "five years of struggle".

The Mozambican Public Ministry accused the three defendants of having hatched a scheme to inflate LAM's purchase of two aircraft from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer, in 2009, setting a price of 31.1 million dollars (26.4 million euros) against the real price of around 30 million dollars (25.5 million euros).

The prosecutors understand that the amount was inflated to bribe Paulo Zucula and Mateus Zimba, both being accused of economic participation in business and money laundering.

Former LAM president José Viegas was answering for economic participation in the business, allegedly for having pressured Embraer to raise the price of the planes and to make payments to the other two defendants, but he was not charged with any undue receipts.

Saisi