The Attorney General of Mozambique today in Maputo defended strengthening the accountability of public managers in cases of financial infractions and promoting a ‘culture of transparency’ on the part of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
‘In the administrative jurisdiction, for example, we must remain sharp in promoting the accountability of public managers, in ongoing cases of financial offences, as well as in the fight against tax offences,’ said Beatriz Buchili, during the opening of a session of the Coordinating Council of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) in the Mozambican capital.
Although she highlighted advances in the work of the Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office in recent years, the Attorney General admitted the need to strengthen investigative capacity, emphasising greater attention to financial crimes.
‘It is necessary to promote a culture of transparency in the management of public affairs,’ she emphasised.
Training staff in different jurisdictions should also be a priority for the Public Prosecutor’s Office, Buchili said, admitting that among the various challenges facing Mozambique today is the ‘complexity linked to organised and transnational crime and the defence of human rights’.
‘It is our conviction that we, as the Public Prosecutor’s Office, have to improve ourselves, adopting the best strategies to deal with and face up to the challenges facing us. (…)That is why we need to continue and guarantee the process of expanding our bodies,’ he said.
Since April last year, the Central Asset Recovery Office in Mozambique has recovered more than 1,385 million meticals (20 million euros) from illicit sources, according to data from the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The figure represents an increase compared to the previous period, when an estimated 1,149 million meticals (almost 17 million euros) were recovered, reads a document that takes stock of the work of the Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office over the last 12 months, to which Lusa had access in April this year.
In total, during the period in question, the Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office processed a total of 84 asset and financial investigation cases, with at least 25 having been finalised.
Among the assets seized were 30 properties and 48 vehicles, as well as an amount of around 214 million meticals (three million euros).
Lusa
