A judge refused to suspend the court decision that allowed the Royal group to sell agricultural products worth tens of millions of dollars, seized last year from the ETG commodities trading company.

In December last year, Royal Group raided ETG's warehouses in Nacala and took 57,000 tons of bóer beans, soybeans, rice and other products, according to a document drawn up for ETG and seen by Zitamar News. The actions were authorized by a judge at the Maritime Court in the city of Nacala. The Attorney General's Office ordered the court order to be annulled, but the Royal Group contested this and the case has not progressed recently. Subsequently, Royal was also granted a court order allowing it to sell the goods. Since then, the goods sold have begun to be exported.

Judge Samuel Pita, of the Nacala Judicial Court, upheld ETG's appeal last week, as well as an appeal by the Public Prosecutor's Office against the order to sell goods, but added that the orders in favor of the Royal Group could not be suspended, partly because "the immediate suspension of the effects of the contested decision is likely to cause losses and damages that are difficult to repair, given the imminent threat of deterioration of the agricultural products, the advance sale of which was authorized."

This last comment refers to Royal's sale of the seized goods, which were also being exported yesterday [July 18]. This latest observation refers to Royal's sale of the seized goods, which were also being exported yesterday. According to the newspaper Savana, 350 containers of cowpeas have started to be loaded onto the cargo ship Cebu, operated by the shipping company CMA CGM, at the port of Nacala. Another shipment is expected to take place tomorrow [today, July 20].

According to an assessment made for ETG by commodities market analysts Global Collateral Control, dated July 2, the seized goods amount to 57,090 tons, with a total value of 71.8 million dollars.

Earlier this year, ETG notified the government that it would initiate arbitration proceedings before an international court if the government did not make good the losses ETG had suffered as a result of the seizure by Royal Group. ETG accused the police and local judicial authorities in Nacala of colluding to damage its business and the government of failing to protect ETG's rights under Mozambican law and an international investment treaty. ETG has not yet confirmed whether it will proceed with legal action.

Conflict with the cowpea

As previously reported, ETG argues that Royal Group's actions are related to an incident that took place in 2022, when the Indian authorities prevented Royal Group from taking a shipment of soybean seeds to India, which were allegedly fraudulently certified as not being genetically modified. Royal Group claimed that one of its competitors in Mozambique had warned the Indian authorities and sued them, including ETG, but lost the lawsuit against the company.

Evidence provided by small traders suggests that the Royal Group has been trying to monopolize the export of bóer beans from Mozambique to India. Royal, led by Hassnein Mamadataki, has been accused of acting in collusion with the ruling Frelimo party for mutual financial benefit. According to reports, customs officials in Nacala blocked the export of pigeonpeas by any company other than the Royal Group or its subsidiaries, forcing other exporters to pay a fee to Royal in order to export.

This week, the Indian trade publication Agri World reported that officials at the port of Nacala had prevented the loading onto ships of cowpeas from Malawi, despite the fact that the goods had already been cleared through customs at the Mozambican border. Earlier, Zitamar News had reported allegations that the Royal Group was blocking the loading of imported Malawian pigeon peas, on the suspicion that the pigeon peas were actually originating in Mozambique and being transported to Malawi and vice versa to conceal their origin. (Text: Zitamar)