• The arrest of five people accused of money laundering was legalized and two were bailed out for a million meticais
• Authorities searched the hotel next to the JAT building in Maputo city
• Nampula mayor tries to intimidate investigating judge "in the name of Frelimo"

On Monday, the national justice authorities legalized the arrest of five citizens on charges of laundering of more than 330 million dollars from Mozambique abroad.

These are Abdul Elias, Zumir Hamid Hassan, Sheila Nurdin Giva (who worked for Altaf Momade Mussa and Nuro Gulam), Momed Munib and Hassan Gulam. Two other implicated people were guaranteed payment of 500,000 meticais each. They are Nelson Filipe and Paulino Mungoni.

There is an arrest warrant for Altaf Momade Mussa, but he is out of the country, supposedly in Portugal, one of the blue bags of laundered money. Also wanted is the citizen Hussein Gulam, the twin brother of Hassan Gulam - younger brothers of Nuro Gulam - who escaped by jumping over a wall when his brother was captured. He is suspected of being in an undisclosed location, in the company of his brother-in-law, Momed Rissal, who has also been indicted for the crimes.

Those now in pre-trial detention are said to have confessed to the crimes of money laundering, financing terrorism, criminal association, falsifying documents, setting up front companies to launder money, and others.

Last week, the Attorney General's Office (PGR) searched the "Maputo Executive Hotel Limitada, which is about to open, located on the Maxaquene embankment, next to the JAT building", which allegedly belongs to Altaf Momade Mussa. During the search, the PGR seized several documents and computers from his office.

It should be noted that, according to the publications of the National JusticeThe arrests took place in the cities of Nacala and Nampula, in Nampula province. Still for no obvious reason, the Mayor of Nampula, Luís Abdula Giquira, travelled from his municipality to Maputo to prevent the legalization of the arrest of the Gulam family, who were allegedly the promoters of the 48 million meticais bribe.

Giquira is said to have called on his contacts, namely the Minister of Agriculture, Celso Correia, with whom he spoke on the phone so that "he could intervene urgently, even if it meant talking to the president of the Supreme Court or the investigating judge himself so that the accused could be released immediately".

The jurists present at the process of legalizing the arrests, according to the source, deplored the attitude of the mayor of Nampula who, in a loud and intimidating tone, spoke to Celso Correia in order to intimidate the investigating judge. "... he acted as if he were a partner of the detainees. It was even suspected that he had personal interests in acting the way he did." However, the investigating judge upheld the decision to legalize the arrest of the accused.