The former director of the Studies Office of the State Intelligence and Security Service, Cipriano Mutota, was released last Thursday (15), after serving half of his prison sentence in the case of the hidden debts that defrauded the country of 2.7 billion dollars..

The information is provided by Letter from MozambiqueHe said that his release comes a month after the Supreme Court upheld an appeal by Ângela Leão's lawyer, Abdul Gani Hassan, asking for his client's release on the grounds that she had already served half her sentence.

Sentenced to a maximum of ten years in prison, Mutota was the first to receive the proposal for the Project for the Protection of Mozambique's Exclusive Economic Zone, presented by the representative of the Abu Dhabi Mar LC company of the Privinvest group in South Africa, Batsetsane Thlokoane - giving rise to the creation of the three deadbeat companies (MAM, EMATUM and PROINDICUS).

In the case of hidden debts, Cipriano Mutota received a total of 980,000 dollars, which he converted into seven trucks, later sold; a residence in the Mapulango area, Marracuene district, Maputo province; and agribusiness, growing sesame, as he told the court.

On Friday, the defendant Fabião Mabunda left prison. Sentenced to 11 years in prison, Mabunda served as a "front man" for the couple Gregório and Ângela Leão, having received 8.9 million dollars on their behalf, which was invested in the purchase of three properties (one on the Costa do Sol and two semi-detached properties in Praia da Ponta D'Ouro); contracting services to draw up projects for four houses on the Costa do Sol; a nightclub in Belo Horizonte (Boane); a residential house in Marracuene; a commercial space in Quelimane; and a residential property in Jonasse (Boane).

Today, Monday, Ângela Leão, the wife of the former director-general of SISE, Gregório Leão, is expected to be released from prison. Ângela Leão was sentenced to 11 years in prison and is the only convicted defendant in custody. Inês Moiane, former private secretary to Armando Guebuza (former President of the Republic), who was also sentenced to 11 years in prison, was released after two years in prison (she was arrested in February 2019 and released in March 2021), as was her "front man", Sérgio Namburete.

The debts, which total 2.7 billion dollars, were hidden from parliament and international partners and only made public in 2016, precipitating an unprecedented financial and reputational crisis in the country.

(Photo DR)