Paulino Calls for Stronger Anti-Corruption Laws

27 April 2011

Maputo — Mozambique’s laws on corruption and the theft of state funds and assets are inadequate and out-of-date, declared Attorney-General Augusto Paulino on Wednesday.

Giving his annual report to the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, Paulino pointed out that the existing law, dating from 1979, does not provide measures against officials “who use fraudulent tricks to register state-owned houses in their own names”.

Furthermore, it is difficult to punish theft of funds by state officials who do not sign the cheques or have direct access to the money, leading to the unjust situation whereby officials who order theft receive lesser penalties than their subordinates.

“Many crimes related with budgetary implementation, or the illicit appropriation of state financial resources, are not practiced merely by those who directly handle the funds”, Paulino points out. “The most that can happen to a high ranking state leader who orders his subordinates to pay his personal expenses out of the state budget, even if this is a large sum, is that he will be sentenced for abuse of his position to a maximum of two years imprisonment and told to repay the money, without even any interest”.

The lower ranking official, however, would receive a much longer jail term, “which weakens the principle of the equality of citizens before the law”.

One of the weaknesses of anti-corruption legislation, added Paulino, was that it did not take into account the value of what had been stolen or diverted, and punished the guilty with prison terms of no more than two years. Furthermore, the legislation only covered corruption in the public sector. It had nothing to say about corruption in other areas, such as sport (Paulino was doubtless thinking of recent allegations of match-fixing in Mozambican football).

Paulino also called for specific legislation to protect whistle-blowers. “We are beginning to see cases of citizens who are harassed because they have denounced crimes of corruption or the theft of state funds, or because they have testified as witnesses”, he said.

He wanted to see pertinent legislation in this area, “so that we can strengthen the fight against corruption”.

Paulino also wanted to see laws that would punish “illicit enrichment”. This would mean that, if somebody displayed wealth that could not be explained by his salary, he would be obliged to prove that he had acquired the goods concerned legally. If he could not prove that he had come by his possessions legitimately, then they should be confiscated.

“Both illicit enrichment and the traffic of influence are subjects that our legislation should cover so that we can rise to the challenge posed by the struggle against corruption”, he stressed.

AllAfrica – All the Time