The Administrative Court (TA) may be protecting officials suspected of corruption by failing to submit a report on the results of an investigation into the existence of corrupt officials in the institution more than three months ago, according to the Center for Democracy and Development (CDD).

The civil society organization believes that the TA has long since ceased to comply with its obligations under the Constitution of the Republic.

For the CDD, the failure to publish a report on a letter of complaint from TA employeesThe report, which indicated the existence of corrupt officials in the institution, reveals the TA's lack of commitment to justice. He is referring, in fact, to the case of Jeremias Zuande, the Accountant General of the Accounts and Audit Office, who audited the accounts of the Assembly of the Republic in 2016 and of the Matola City Council, and whose reports were never published "supposedly to hide bad management practices, and [as a result] to be promoted to Judge Counselor of the TA, a pact that never came to fruition".

"The commission of inquiry to investigate complaints made by officials about corruption schemes, including the sale of audit files, was announced on February 9 and had 20 days to present its report. Three months and a week have passed and the Administrative Court has still not released the report of the commission of inquiry and it is not even known if such a report exists." reads the document published this Sunday.

On the other hand, Jeremias Zuande is singled out by the CDD as the key player who, in January 2022, prevented the injunction to suspend the collection of road tolls at Costa do Sol, Zintava, Matola Gare and Kumbeza, on the Maputo ring road.

The collection of toll fees was due to start on February 1, 2022, but while the procedures for the TA to assess their relevance were underway, the intention to collect them was null and void.

"However, on the morning of January 31, 2022, the government submitted its challenge to the TA, requesting an exception from compliance with the rule of automatic provisional suspension of the order setting toll rates. In an extraordinary case of procedural speed, the TA issued order S/Nº01/JCC/2022 on the same day, granting the government's request, stating that the terms leading to the exception to compliance with the automatic provisional suspension rule had been met. In other words, the TA upheld the government's argument that postponing the start of toll payments on the Circular Road would have serious consequences for the pursuit of the public interest," writes the CDD.