The Judicial Court of Maputo City announced this week that it will no longer question Lebanese Jean Boustani, who had been listed as a declarant in the case of hidden debts in Mozambique. This decision is due to the fact that he is a defendant in an autonomous process about the same case.

The information advanced by the judge of the case, Efigénio Baptista, came in response to a request from the Public Ministry.

The hearing of the Privinvest employee - who refused to appear in Maputo - was to take place on the same Thursday, by videoconference, to explain his involvement in the payment of bribes with the money from the Undeclared Debts.

However, it should be recalled that, in September, Jean Boustani made himself available to testify at the Judicial Court of Maputo City in the trial of the ongoing case, after the judge had accepted, in August, his interrogation as a declarant.

The acceptance of Boustani as a declarant in the Hidden Debts case was due to the judge's unawareness that the Privinvest employee had been made a defendant in a separate case brought by the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Efigénio Baptista's decision was contested by the defense, which considered that there were "double standards", since there are declarants who were called to testify in the trial underway, even though they are defendants in separate proceedings.

Abdul Gani, lawyer for the defendant Gregório Leão, former director of the State Information and Security Service (SISE), pointed to the former governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Ernesto Gove, and two former directors of the institution as cases of declarants already questioned, but who are also defendants in a separate case.

The Mozambican justice system accuses the 19 defendants in the main case of having formed a "gang" and embezzled $2.7 billion from the Mozambican state - more than the $2.2 billion so far in the case - raised from international banks through guarantees provided by the government.