Initiated a year ago, the "hidden debts" process, which damaged the Mozambican State by more than US$2.2 billion, only protected politicians and did not serve as a lesson in the fight against corruption, analysts point out.

When the trial of the hidden debts began on August 23, 2021, it was expected that the fight against corruption would gain traction in Mozambique. But a year after the start of the trial of the country's biggest financial scandal, these expectations have been frustrated, comments jurist Elvino Dias.

"If you look at the statistics, they show that Mozambique is regarded as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, so I don't see this trial as something that will change the corruption picture the country finds itself in," he laments to DW.

In Transparency International's 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index, Mozambique was ranked 147, below Angola and on the same level as Madagascar and Bangladesh. The country gained only one point in relation to the previous year.

For Baltazar Fael, a researcher at the Center for Public Integrity (CIP), Mozambican institutions remain "weak" in the fight against corruption. "And in an institution that is weak, corruption easily enters and it is possible to manipulate things so that those, who intend to do, with those institutions easily do so," he stresses.

Nyusi, Gebuza and FRELIMO "spared

The director of the Center for Democracy and Development (CDD), Adriano Nuvunga, questions the absence in the hidden debts trial of key players to understand the scandal, such as current President Filipe Nyusi and former head of state Armando Guebuza.

Nyusi was, at the time of the events, in charge of the Defense portfolio, the area where the companies that requested the hidden loans were operating, without Parliament's consent, and Guebuza was the leader of the government.

But there are more people who should be called to the dock, Nuvunga understands. "Including the former governor of the Bank of Mozambique - his signature was key for this operation to happen, but he is being protected by the Administrative Court. And Isaltina Lucas, who was treasurer," he enumerates.

Lawyer Elvino Dias also regrets the absence of several figures from the ruling party, the Liberation Front of Mozambique (FRELIMO), who were quoted in New York at the trial of Jean Boustani, CEO of the Privinvest group, involved in the scandal.

"Reference was made to the FRELIMO party, which received $10 million. Why was no mention made of these monies that are part of the hidden debts? In addition to the FRELIMO party, we have senior officials from the Bank of Mozambique who should be in court," he argues.

Efigénio Baptista's justifications

During the trial, the judge of the case Efigénio Baptista clarified the absences of President Filipe Nyusi and Armando Guebuza as defendants in this process. "President Guebuza and his wife, in their accounts, have no receipt of any amount from Privinvest. President Nyusi likewise, has nothing," he justified.

The jurist Elvino Dias believes that this was yet another political trial, to clean up Mozambique's image on the international scene.

"The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has resumed cooperative relations with Mozambique, and very recently the World Bank has entered into partnerships with Mozambique, which means that this judgment was necessary to defuse this tension that the country was facing with the international financial institutions," he argues.

Judge Efigénio Baptista has set the verdict in the hidden debts case for November 30, 2022.