Some Mozambican analysts believe that the financial hole of around 52 million meticais that has just been discovered in the Ministry of National Defense could be a sign that the state is being looted, with some high-ranking civil servants inventing fictitious tenders in order to seize funds from the public purse at the end of a cycle of government.

For analysts, the discovery of this fraud at the Ministry of National Defense shows how vulnerable the Mozambican national security sector is.

In the wake of this looting, the Central Office for Combating Corruption (GCCC), under the supervision of the Attorney General's Office, has opened three cases involving five senior officials from the Ministry of Defense, accused of embezzling more than 52 million meticais, according to the spokesman for that office, Romualdo Johnam.

In a publication by VOA, political analyst, Tomás Vieira Mário, believes that "this corresponds to a kind of take away to the institutions at the end of a ten-year cycle of rule by President Filipe Nyusi", and adds that in the Ministry of National Defense, "this has been covered up in the terms that we are in a conflict against terrorism in Cabo Delgado, and therefore there is always an urgency to make purchases that cannot wait".

Meanwhile, in addition to this case involving the Ministry of Defense, Tomás Vieira Mário also recalls that last Wednesday (08), information was released that there had been a financial breach of many millions of meticais at the National Social Security Institute, "which shows that we are at a very dangerous time of the end of a cycle of governance in which high-level state officials invent fictitious public tenders to loot the state."

In the same publication, political analyst Fernando Mbanze believes that this is because the Ministry of Defense may not be improving its control, monitoring and inspection strategy, stressing that this failure may even be deliberate, "to give room for acts of corruption to happen because the defense and security sectors, in a war situation like Cabo Delgado, are institutions that must be highly controlled and with very high transparency criteria."

For journalist Luís Nhachote, it's surprising that one of this year's biggest corruption scandals was orchestrated in the Ministry of Defense. "This shows how serious the country is in terms of security," he adds.

However, in reaction to the case, the Ministry of National Defense states that the fact that the individuals indicted in this crime have been discovered shows that the institution does not tolerate corruption crimes, stressing that the group showed outward signs of wealth that is not consistent with their lawful income.

(Photo DR)