The "hidden debts" soap opera comes to an end with the conviction of 11 of the 19 defendants. Take a look back at the names mentioned in the case and some of the notable interventions in the trial of Mozambique's biggest corruption scandal.

The trial of the biggest financial scandal in Mozambique's history, involving 19 defendants and more than 60 declarants, began on August 23, 2021.

More than a year later, the defendants were sentenced yesterday on charges of money laundering, association to commit crimes, embezzlement, falsification of documents and abuse of office or function. As DW reports, 11 of the 19 defendants were sentenced to between 10 and 12 years in prison.

Judge Efigénio Baptista ruled that Ndambi Guebuza, the son of former President Armando Guebuza, and the two former heads of the Mozambican secret service, Gregório Leão and António Carlos do Rosário, were the ringleaders of this crime, which cost the country more than 2.2 billion dollars.

Striking interventions

The hearings of the "hidden debts" trial were marked by "unusual" interventions.

The defendant António Carlos do Rosário and the judge in the case, Efigénio Baptista, were the protagonists of one of them.

"Do you still want to talk about law? No, no. Sorry, Your Honor. If you want to be respected, respect me," António Carlos do Rosário said in court. "The fact that you're a judge doesn't give you the right to disrespect people. We are the same age. If you were the best law student, don't come here and insult people," he said.

For activist Fátima Mimbire, the defendant's attitude was due to the fact that he was used to subordinating himself only to the President of the Republic: "It was very clear that, as a person who only had dealings with the President of the Republic, these people don't respect institutions. He's not used to being in a position where he's not in charge."

The trial of the "soap opera" of "hidden debts", religiously followed by many Mozambicans on television, also had moments of humor. This time, they were played by the defendant Fabião Mabunda and the judge Efigénio Baptista.

"But do you know what it's like to steal and what it's like to lose your phone?" asked Public Prosecutor Ana Sheila Marrengula.

"I don't know if I lost it or if it was a theft or a robbery, I was piff [under the influence of alcohol]," replied the defendant.

Quoted personalities

During the hearings, defendants António Carlos do Rosário and Gregório Leão mentioned the names of former President Armando Guebuza and former Defense Minister and current President Filipe Nyusi as being implicated in the financial scandal, and the judge questioned them:

"It was the Minister of Defense, the current President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, who knew, is that what you're saying?"

"That's not hard to understand," replied defendant António Carlos do Rosário.

"I'm not saying it's difficult," said the judge.

"It seems to be difficult, there seems to be an effort... I'm not here to defend anyone, nor do I want to incriminate anyone," added António Carlos do Rosário.

Prosecutor Ana Sheila Marrengula questioned the defendants about the state's guarantees.

"The defendant has come to claim that it was the then Minister of Defense. Do you have any evidence to support your claim?"

"I ask my lawyer to attach to the case file the letter from the then Minister of Finance, [Manuel Chang], indicating that Credit Suisse has been identified, requesting the issuance of guarantees."

Civil society has demanded that Armando Guebuza and Filipe Nyusi go to court. Analyst Dércio Alfazema told DW that the former head of state was open to this.

"President Guebuza showed some interest in the court, so that he could provide some clarification about the dust that existed," he said.

And in the face of pressure to investigate the involvement of these two senior figures in the contracting of "hidden debts", the court came out to dispel doubts: "President Guebuza, his wife and all the others have their own accounts. Their account statements show no money received from the Privinvest group [accused of paying bribes]. President Nyusi has nothing".

But where is the money?

This is the question posed by the director of the Center for Democracy and Development (CDD), Adriano Nuvunga, who says that there is an urgent need to recover the assets mentioned in the scandal.

"If we don't recover the assets from this macabre default, we're going to have chronic malnutrition of our children. Mozambique could collapse. We're going to organize ourselves to go after this money," he said.