The Administrative Court (AT) has sentenced several public managers to return money for embezzlement and misapplication of funds intended to fight the covid-19 pandemic, the institution said, without mentioning amounts.
“Many managers who transgressed the rules have been obliged to repay the amount. It is not enough to say that mistakes were made in the application of funds. It is necessary to repair the damage”, said Jeremias Zuande, from the Accounts and Audit Department of the TA, quoted on Tuesday, July 12 by Notícias.
Those targeted have committed offenses such as under-invoicing, withdrawal of funds without supporting documents, improper direct adjudications, application detour and improper payments, Zuande added. The offenses caused a loss of about two billion meticais, he said.
He also said that the sanctions were applied after auditing 75% of the State institutions that received funds for the fight against covid-19.
Last week, a source from the Ministry of Economy and Finance told Lusa that the institution delivered to the Central Office for Combating Corruption (GCCC) the report that detected irregularities in the funds used in the fight against the pandemic.
“Within the framework of inter-institutional collaboration, the report was made available to the GCCC,” said the source, without giving further details.
The Mozambican government had already acknowledged that about 11% of donor money intended for Mozambique to face covid-19 in 2020 was used irregularly.
At issue is the equivalent of about 30 million euros of the total 285 million euros in donations used by the Mozambican state in 2020.
The donor fund for Mozambique’s response plan to covid-19 had contributions from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), African Development Bank (ADB), Islamic Development Bank, World Bank, European Union (EU), United States of America and Global Fund.
