The proposed revision of the law approved by the Council of Ministers essentially proposes removing the powers of the Administrative Court (TA) to audit the accounts of public companies, including the Bank of Mozambique (BM).

It also includes the decentralization of powers from the TA to the administrative courts in the provinces and Maputo City for the auditing of public accounts at provincial level., according to a document from the Center for Public Integrity (CIP).

Citing a document from the Plans and Budget Commission (CPO), CIP writes that the TA should only supervise Banco de Moçambique as manager of the Sovereign Fund, as stated in article 80(i) of Note no. 16 /SGAR-CPOI2024.

However, the CIP takes a different view of the CPO's position. It believes that the proposal to exclude the WB from TA supervision is manifestly unconstitutional and problematic. It believes that TA supervision is crucial to ensure that the Bank operates in compliance with established laws and regulations, in order to prevent corruption and abuses of power.

"It is important to remember that the Bank of Mozambique is an institution whose conduct demonstrates a lack of transparency. We can cite the role it played in contracting the hidden debts, as well as the conflicting role it played in the rescue of Moza Banco," the CIP document recalls.