The judge at the Matutuine court has refused to rule on the case of "resort fraud" involving a Mozambican citizen who posed as a lawyer for South African investors, who are now the defendants in the case.

The lawyer, identified as José Luís Timba, was expected to be heard last Thursday (April 27), after the court issued an arrest warrant on April 14 for repeated acts of disobedience, and the judge scheduled the trial hearing.

The expected trial didn't take place because José Luís Timba was the only person involved in the case who didn't show up in the courtroom, in addition to the judge who, through the clerk, claimed amnesia about having scheduled the trial for that date.

"However, on that scheduled date, after almost two hours of waiting, the judge made it known through the clerk that she had no recollection of the event and later, verbally, in the middle of the court corridor, announced that the hearing would be postponed due to the fugitive defendant's absence and that it would only be held when he was captured," writes the newspaper Sunday.

The offended party, representing the Resort's investors Whale in sight, who traveled from Pretoria (South Africa) to Maputo to take part in the trial, asked the judge for a hearing, but the judge said she was too busy.

Despite being on the run, José Luís Timba received a telephone summons to appear in court on April 25 and failed to do so. In view of this, the court claimed that the defendant had not been properly notified.

Interestingly, on the day of the trial, all the parties involved in the proceedings were present in court, namely the duly constituted court, the representative of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the representatives of the offended party. And, quoted by the clerk, the judge said there was no need to enter the courtroom.