The Center for Public Integrity (CIP) says there is an undervaluation of the buildings of the now defunct state-owned company Correios de Moçambique and proposes an urgent revaluation of the company's movable and immovable assets.  

The CIP report on public finances "Mozambique Post Office properties cost 805 thousand meticais each?", published on October 24, 2021, questions the price of the infrastructure and shows a total disbelief of the final price for the liquidation of 170 properties of Correios de Moçambique.

Citing the 2019 Annual Report and Accounts of that company, CIP says that among the various furniture and real estate "about 170 buildings [are] valued at 137 million meticais," each corresponding to "about 805 thousand meticais," and this reveals "an evident situation of undervaluation of the properties."

The document reveals that the value was determined by the Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE) and is, for CIP, "much lower than that considered in the market, taking into account that the company's buildings are mostly located in provincial capitals and city centers.

Still referring to the 2019 accounts report, the CIP says that Correios de Moçambique "owns industrial buildings and that only in small rehabilitations 972 thousand meticais were spent; [it also owns] guest residences that also underwent some rehabilitations worth 82 thousand meticais in 2019," to demonstrate the incompatibility between what the company could spend and how much they were valued for, and whether it intends to sell its 170 buildings.

The amounts intended to be raised from the liquidation of the assets of Correios de Moçambique are to pay its obligations to its stakeholders, the Centre said. Thus, this undervaluation "has the risk of being associated with situations of corruption," in which there will be benefit for the buyers to the detriment of the fulfillment of the company's duties and, consequently, "harm to the State itself.

The debts of Correios de Moçambique

According to the CIP, the defunct Correios de Moçambique has obligations to the state, several private institutions, including banks, and its workers.

The State has an accumulated debt of about 154.6 million meticais, namely for the payment of taxes: Value Added Tax (VAT), Income Tax on Individuals (IRPS) of first and second category; with the National Institute of Social Security of Mozambique; among others.

The national bank - which annually pays an interest rate of five million meticais - has a debt of about 25.02 million meticais, of which 80% are loans to Millennium bim, 18% to ABC bank and 2% to ABSA bank.

The company has a total of 168.7 million meticais in debts to suppliers, of which about 45.01 million are debts to Millennium bim. Also on the list of suppliers are Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM), SATCOM, MCB, Petromoc, Livraria Lda, and a set of at least 14 service providers of various kinds.

To the workers (by 2019 there were 579 employees) Correios de Moçambique owes about 53.7 million meticais, just from debts accumulated in 2019.

The CIP calls for "respect for the principles of transparency and integrity" in the process of liquidation of the assets of Correios de Moçambique, to "avoid the delapidation of the Heritage of the State.