Mozambique’s Central Office for Combating Corruption is investigating alleged corruption schemes in the sale of tickets by the Mozambican airline and in the management of the company’s fleet, a source linked to the investigations told Lusa today.
On 12 February, the restructuring director of Mozambique Airlines (LAM), Sérgio Matos, denounced at a press conference a scheme to embezzle money, with losses of at least almost three million euros, in ticket sales shops, through automatic payment terminal machines (TPA/POS) that do not belong to the company.
Following these allegations, a source linked to the investigations told Lusa today that the organisation “immediately filed case no. 21/P/GCCC/2024, with a view to clarifying the material truth”.
“The report sent by the company, in its duty to collaborate with the justice system, as well as the one sent to the public prosecutor in Maputo city, were added to this process, as they are incompetent in the matter,” he said.
The Central Office for Combating Corruption (GCCC) decided to act after becoming aware, on the 12th, through the media and digital platforms, of new facts related to the purchase of airline tickets at LAM shops using automatic payment terminals belonging to third parties and under-invoicing in the purchase of fuel on the Maputo-Lisbon flight, the source continued.
In January 2023, the GCCC had already opened case no. 06/11/P/GCCC/2023 to investigate allegations about fleet management, namely the sale of aircraft, their leasing, the company’s indebtedness for the acquisition of new equipment and maintenance operations.
The case also concerns the contracting of suppliers, the legitimacy of the invoicing paid and the sale of the company’s corporate assets.
“Within the scope of case no. 06/11/P/GCCC/2023, LAM and other institutions have collected abundant documentation related to the facts that is still being processed. Likewise, in the same process, various entities from this company and other institutions are being questioned in order to clarify the facts,” said the source.
That entity has asked the General Inspectorate of Finance and the General Inspectorate of Public Administration to carry out audits of LAM’s management accounts, whose reports it is still awaiting, the source said.
In addition to Mozambique, the alleged facts under investigation “occurred in five foreign jurisdictions, which required international co-operation to obtain evidence,” he added.
Following reports of alleged corruption in the sale of LAM tickets, the Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE), the organisation that manages the state-owned business sector in Mozambique, announced this week that it wants to see the alleged embezzlement and acts of internal sabotage investigated and requested an investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
“IGEPE reiterates its commitment to fairness, transparency and legality in the management of public capital and expresses its willingness to collaborate with the investigations in order to ascertain the truth,” reads a statement.
Given the seriousness of the information that has come to light, the IGEPE has instructed Fly Modern Ark (FMA), the South African company hired to recover LAM, and the carrier itself to investigate the facts and immediately channel the suspicions to the competent authorities, and a request for an investigation has been submitted to the Maputo City Public Prosecutor’s Office, the institute added.
LAM operates 12 destinations on the domestic market, at regional level it flies regularly to Johannesburg, Dar es Salaam, Harare, Lusaka and Cape Town, and Lisbon is the only intercontinental destination.
Lusa
