The National Electoral Commission (CNE) owes just over two billion meticais to the Laxton/Artes Gráficas consortium for material supplied for the 2023 local elections and this year's general elections.

According to the electoral bulletin of the Center for Public Integrity, on December 3, Laxton/Artes Gráficas issued a note to the CNE stating that it owed 2,034,450,580 meticais. CNE President Dom Carlos Matsinhe forwarded the document to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on December 11.

"If payment is not made by December 31, the state will pay interest on the outstanding amount from January 1, 2025, at a rate of 0.12% per day," the bulletin reads.

The bulletin indicates that Laxton/Artes Gráficas agreed to provide the services without any advance payment. "The state was short of funds to make the elections possible. The elections, the most fraudulent in history, have now taken place, but the state is still not paying its debts to suppliers."

The Laxton company claims that the late debt payments are having "drastic effects" on its business and are already forcing it to adjust its own financial guarantees for other projects.

Laxton advises CNE that, under the contract, it will, as of January 1, 2025, start charging annual interest of 12%. The interest will be calculated and applied at the end of each month on outstanding balances at the date of collection.