The Judicial Court of Maputo city starts today, Wednesday, December 30, the reading of the sentence of the case of hidden debts, with 19 defendants accused of involvement in the largest case of corruption in the history of Mozambique.
The reading of the verdict will take five days, as the court said at a press conference: “the reading of the verdict will take five days,” said José Macarringue, judge and spokesman for the Maputo City Judicial Court.
The work will start at 9am.
“If the judge has determined a duration of five days, it may be that the reading of the sentence goes on until later, it will depend on the judge himself,” he stressed.
The reading will take place in the tent of Maputo’s maximum security prison, known as BO, which also hosted the trial for seven months.
Justifying the length of the reading of the sentence with the complexity of the case, the spokesman for the Maputo City Judicial Court admitted the possibility of extending it over the weekend.
Ndambi Guebuza, eldest son of former President Armando Guebuza, and former leaders of the Mozambican secret services are among the 19 defendants. They are accused by the Public Prosecution Service of involvement in a scheme that defrauded the state of more than US$2.7 billion in debt contracted with international banks between 2013 and 2014.
The loans were guaranteed by the Government of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), led at the time by Guebuza, without the knowledge of Parliament or the Administrative Court.
