| |
|
CORRUPTION BUSTING BANK CHAIRMAN ASSASSINATED
|
| |
| Summary / Joseph Hanlon, 29 Aug 2001 |
| |
|
Antonio Siba Siba Macuacua, acting chairman of Banco Austral, was thrown down a 15-storey stairwell just two days before he was due to present a report which would probably have identified senior political figures who had stolen millions of dollars from the bank.
|
| |
|
The murder on 11 August was quickly linked to that of Metical editor Carlos Cardoso, who had been investigating banking corruption. Both Carlos Cardoso and Antonio Siba-Siba Macuacua had fallen in the battle against corruption, said President Joaquim Chissano, speaking in Maputo on 25 August.
|
| |
|
But author Mia Couto noted that although many people sincerely cried at both funerals, "mixed among them were those who profited from the assassinations. They had equal dark clothing and heavy faces, but they were counting up the advantages gained from these two deaths."
|
| |
|
In sharp contrast to the killing of Cardoso, where they police failed to take prompt action, here the police moved quickly. They sealed the murder scene and did not move the body; they called for help from South Africa, which arrived within six hours. South African police quickly concluded that Antonio Siba Siba had not fallen accidentally, but had been thrown down the stairwell from near his top floor office. By Tuesday 14 August the Bank of Mozambique issued a statement saying he had been "brutally assassinated".
|
| |
|
Banco Austral was the former Banco Popular de Desenvolvimento (BPD) which was privatised in September 1997, with 60% going to a company Investil, which was in turn 51% the Malaysian Southern Bank Berhard (SBB) and 49% the group Invester led by former Industry Minister Octavio Mutembe, who became chairman of Banco Austral. SBB appointed the general manager and mainly ran the bank.
|
| |
|
BPD had a long history of providing money to the Frelimo party and its key figures. But the new privatised Banco Austral was quickly seen to be giving bad loans to family and friends, and it is believed that some bank officials, both Mozambican and Malaysian, siphoned off money in other ways. By mid-2000 the bank was in serious trouble, and it was already being investigated by journalists, notably Carlos Cardoso. On 3 April 2001 Investil simply handed back its shares and walked out.
|
| |
|
Bank of Mozambique (central bank) governor Adriano Maleiane said the bank needed recapitalisation of $150 million, and that he hoped to reprivatise it. He named as acting chair Antonio Siba Siba Macuacua, who was director of banking supervision at Bank of Mozambique. A bright and honest young economist, he was given the task of cleaning up the mess. An early step was to publish a list of the names of bad debtors in an attempt to recover some of the money.
|
| |
|
The South African bank ABSA was chosen to take over the reprivatised bank and meetings and negotiations were under way. Antonio Siba Siba was due to present what would have been a detailed and explosive report to ABSA on Monday 13 August, but he was killed on Saturday.
|
| |
|
The other privatised Mozambican bank, Banco Comercial de Mocambique (BCM), had run into similar problems of bad loans and corruption. But the government agreed to fill the hole and Jardim Goncalves and his Banco Comercial Portugues (BCP) agreed to take over the bank without asking any questions about past accounts.
|
| |
|
Presumably those who robbed Banco Austral hoped the same thing would happen. But because Banco Austral was actually taken over by the central bank, Maleiane and Siba Siba were able to start going through the accounts. And Siba Siba is likely to have found much more than simply bad debts, including money siphoned off from the bank in a range of ways. Some senior bank officials are likely to have committed crimes. Clearly someone did not want that information revealed.
|
| |
|
This is at least the third death linked to Mozambican banking scandals. As well as Siba Siba and Cardoso, Banco Internacional de MoР·ambique (BIM) managing director Jose Alberto de Lima Felix was shot and killed on 2 December 1997 after he discovered too much information on money laundering.
|
| |
|
Two other bank officials have been involved in mysterious incidents. A BCM branch manager, Passarinho Fumo, was killed early this year and his wife claims it is linked to bank scandals. Jorge Correia Rijo, an ex-director of private banking of Banco Comercial PortuguРєs (BCP), accused of stealing millions of dollars from clients and apparently living under protection in Mozambique, was seriously injured in a pair of mysterious car accidents in October and November 1997.
|
| |
|
Finally, three legal officials working on bank cases have been shot and injured -- deputy attorney general Vasco Macamo this year, lawyer Albano Silva last year, and prosecutor Afonso Antunes in 1997.
|
|
| |
CLIPPINGS |
| |
54801E STRONG EVIDENCE OF FOUL PLAY IN DEATH OF BANKER
|
| |
Maputo, 13 Aug (AIM) — The Mozambican police have said that evidence is mounting showing the Antonio Siba Siba Macuacua, the provisional chairman of the board of directors of the Austral Bank, was victim of a crime.
|
| |
Macuacua's body was on Saturday found smashed on the ground floor of the building housing the bank's headquarters in down-town Maputo.
|
| |
Police could not first commit themselves, but on Monday sources said that Macuacua had not fallen but pushed down from the 14th floor where he had been working that day through the staircase's well.
|
| |
It is thanks to the help of South African police and medical experts that it was ascertained that Macuacua had indeed been murdered, said the police source.
|
| |
After being notified of the death of Macuacua the Mozambican police had taken the caution of cordonning off the area until the arrival of the South Africans — this is assumed to have been important in that it became difficult for the evidence to be tampered with.
|
| |
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi said that he lamented what had happened, and that the country should not be held hostage by criminals.
|
| |
He added that the reprivatisation process of the Austral Bank will continue with the parameters defined by government.
|
| |
For his part, Manuel Tome, the secretary general of the ruling Frelimo party, also strongly condemned the murder of Macuacua. ...
|
| |
Tome added that organised crime is becoming increasingly worrying in Mozambique. "It worries us because it causes the loss of life which is the most precious commodity of human beings; it destabilises the country politically, financially and economically; and it sows fears and panic in the citizens", he stressed. ...
|
| |
Macuacua was working on a report on the institution's financial account that he was supposed to submit on Monday to ABSA.
|
| |
Macuacua was appointed provisional chairman of the board of directors of the bank in April after it had become clear that the shareholders were unable or unwilling to recapitalise the bank.
|
| |
He was charged with leading a team of experts who had to make a rigorous survey of the true state of the bank, and restructure it.
|
| |
A top economist with the Central Bank, Macuacua soon caused ripples by publishing a list of debtors and demanded that the debts — notably from the portfolio of non-performing loans — be paid, and he and his team had prepared the bank's reprivatisation process. By 1 July the bank had recovered 60 billion meticais (about 277,450 US dollars). ...
|
| |
(AIM)bv(372)
|
| |
Excerpts from AIM article 49801E of 12 Aug:
|
| |
| |
...
|
| |
the discovery of his body at about 13:00 is likely to throw the process a few steps backwards.
|
| |
"Domingo" says that blood could be seen on the walls of the staircase's well from the seventh floor downwards.
|
| |
His death becomes even more mysterious as at the time his body was found there was still a large number of bank workers, including security.
|
| |
Speculation also mounts since the handrail along the stairs is high enough to prevent a fall of such a nature, even if somebody were to, for whatever reason, lose balance.
|
| |
...
|
| |
The Mozambican Criminal Investigation Police (PIC) did not want to take chances though: it sought help from the South African police which sent medical and investigation experts.
|
| |
The South African contingent arrived at about 19:00 at the scene, and Macuacua's body was removed some three hours later.
|
| |
...
|
| |
63801E MOCUMBI SAYS MURDER MIGHT DAMPEN REPRIVATISATION PROCESS
|
| |
Maputo, 16 Aug (AIM) — Mozambican Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi has admitted that the murder recently of the provisional chairman of the board of directors of the Austral Bank slowed down the pace of the reprivatisation process, but he guaranteed that "government holds on to its decision to take the process forward".
|
| |
Antonio Siba Siba Macuacua's body was found lying in a pool of body and smashed on the ground floor of the building housing the bank's headquarters.
|
| |
At first it was thought he had committed suicide, but police subsequently disclosed that there was strong evidence that he was murdered.
|
| |
Macuacua was to submit a report on the bank's financial state on 13 August to the Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (ABSA), the group that won the Austral reprivatisation bid.
|
| |
Speaking on Friday at a Maputo press briefing, Mocumbi said that the bank's interim board of directors "is relatively weakened with the death of its chairman under circumstances still to be investigated. However, it has all the information which can enable ABSA to know the real situation of the bank, and make a decision in the process of negotiations".
|
| |
ABSA had "no reason to hesitated", he said. Furthermore, government is also willing to give any information related to the bank, he said.
|
| |
Government had in 1997 sold 60 per cent of the bank's shares to a consortium headed by the Southern Bank Berhard (SBB) of Malaysia. SBB took 30.4 per cent of the shares, while its Mozambican partner, a company led by former Industry Minister Octavio Muthemba, took 29.6 per cent.
|
| |
But mismanagement and shareholders' inability or unwillingness to recapitalise the bank, forced the Bank of Mozambique in April to intervene in the Austral and appoint the provisional board of directors.
|
| |
One of the tasks of the board was to make the bank attractive to investors, and organise its reprivatisation process. It was against this background that ABSA won the tender bid and is currently negotiating with government.
|
| |
Mocumbi said that ABSA representatives "showed up on the dot and on the agreed date. Last Monday they were at the doors of Austral Bank at 8:00". This was a clear sign that "they're willing to go on with the negotiations".
|
| |
For its part, government would still be involved whole-heartedly in the process and it expects the process to normally follow its course.
|
| |
As regards the death of Macuacua, the council of ministers has "recomended more speed in the investigation process because we can't leave spaces for criminals to feel impune".
|
| |
Meanwhile, ABSA is currently investigating the purchase of a stake in the Austral.
|
| |
This study would be completed by the end of August and it is expected that negotiations would continue for some time.
|
| |
"It is too early to say whether we would go ahead with the deal," said ABSA Group official Peter Gordon, cited by the Pan-African News Agency (PANA) adding "we are moving ahead strongly but prudently into other areas of Africa outside of South Africa and the acquisition of Banco Austral could form a very important part of this strategy".
|
| |
(AIM)
ba/bv(388)
|
| |
68801E MACUACUA MURDERED BY PRIVATISATION OPPOSING-FORCES
|
| |
Maputo, 17 Aug (AIM) — Antonio Siba Siba Macuacua, the provisional chairman of the board of the Austral Bank, might have been murdered by people who were opposed to the bank passing into "non-manipulatable" hands, and who desperately thought that the killing could reverse the reprivatisation process.
|
| |
According to an editorial in the latest issue of the weekly independent "Savana", Macuacua was targeted because he was the top figure in the Austral, and it was thought that his death might sow panic and fear both to Mozambicans and the South African group that won the reprivatisation bid, the Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (ABSA).
|
| |
Antonio Siba Siba Macuacua's body was found lying in a pool of body and smashed on the ground floor of the building housing the bank's headquarters.
|
| |
The caustic editorial draws a parallel between the style of execution used in Macuacua's mruder and that of journalist Carlos Cardoso last November: "More than the barbarous act itself, what's at stake is the brutal intention of imposing a regime of fear".
|
| |
"The message is simple, clear and direct: the gangsters have an extra-ordinary power in Mozambique, and all of us without exception are vulnerable to its justice", says the paper.
|
| |
"Savana" argues that the mere fact that the criminals are selective in who to target "shows clearly that the justice of crime syndicates is implacable and that they're prepared to go to the final consequences".
|
| |
"If yesterday it was a PIC (Criminal Investigation Police) agent, the provincial attorney, the journalist, today it's the executive of a bank, and tomorrow certainly it'll be a political leader", warns the editorial.
|
| |
Macuacua was victim of the complacency of the authorities in light of increased barbarities with all the marks of organised crime "fuelled by the incestuous relationship between business and politics".
|
| |
President Joaquim Chissano's comments in Blantyre after hearing of Macuacua's death that "my first reactions were that nothing could be touched before we had in place experts, and we were sure that they had no interest" did show that the extent of "capacity of crime syndicates in Mozambique".
|
| |
Furthermore, Chissano had publicly recognised and admitted that he lacked trust in the "impartiality and integrity of the Mozambican police", it says.
|
| |
Far from disparaging the presence of the South African police and medical experts which is good for regional cooperation, the paper shows concern that "when the head of state acknowledges that resorting to foreign experts is dictated also by the need to avoid involving national experts 'with interests' in the investigations, he (Chissano) is publicly admitting that organised crime has infiltrated in state institutions which should guarantee the observance and keeping of law and order, and that's very worrying".
|
| |
It becomes even more worrying when the experience of other countries shows that the fight against organised crime demands political courage from the government, not being enough to proclaim the intention of searching for the crime mentors and bringing them to book, while "the past experience of Mozambique show clearly the capacity of criminals to penetrate and influence the judicial institutions to the highest level through corruption means", says the paper.
|
| |
Government should invest in the fight against corruption outside the courts, and should have political courage to dismantle money-laundering schemes and drugs trafficking "regardless of the involvement of influential figures or not", recommends the paper.
|
| |
Meanwhile, the paper reports that there is evidence of the involvement of a director and a guard at the Austral in the death of Macuacua.
|
| |
But police could neither confirm not deny. Nataniel Macamo, police spokesperson, said that "we don't entertain speculations. We don't live by that, and everything that will be turned out by the investigations will be disclosed to the public".
|
| |
Macuacua had been charged with bringing the bank back to its feet after mismanagement and shareholders' inability or unwillingness to recapitalise brought it to the brink of disaster, as well make it attractive to investors, and organise its reprivatisation process.
|
| |
He acted swiftly and published a list of debtors, and awarded the reprivatisation tender bid to ABSA.
|
| |
Austral Bank sources told "Savana" that Macuacua had disclosed that he had received anonymous threats and "was aware that he ran serious risks if he didn't slow down his offensive of bringing debtors to pay what they owed to the bank".
|
| |
(AIM)
bv(469)
|
| |
TRANSLATIONS FROM METICAL (full texts below)
|
| |
AntСѓnio Siba Siba was doing a "report of reports" on Banco Austral and was killed just a short time before he was to submit it to South African representatives of ABSA who were scheduled to arrive (and did arrive) in Maputo Monday. This final report probably contained information that is not public and must be subject to speculation. But the type of information, which all financial institutions have, is in dossiers guarded by seven key and accessible to few people. (metical no. 1051 of 15.08.2001)
|
| |
"Dr AntСѓnio Siba-Siba MacuР±cua was brutally assassinated while carrying out his drties". (Bank of Mozambique statement in metical no. 1050 of 14.08.2001)
|
| |
Mia Couto's View: FEAR
|
| |
The funeral of AntСѓnio Siba-Siba Macuacua gave me the same feeling that assaulted me at the funeral ceremonies of Carlos Cardso. Some of those present cried with sincerity. They were the grand majority. But mixed among them were those who profited from the assassinations. With equal dark clothing and heavy faces, but counting up the advantages gained from these two deaths. Benefiting from disorder and the rule of crime, they are morally the accomplices of those who ordered the killings. Feigning sadness, they drive in their luxury cars bought with money which is not theirs. Confident that the crocodile who devourers good men is now back in the water and difficult to destroy -- but is ready to come back and attack, whenever it is needed. (metical no 1053 of 17.08.2001)
|
| |
Machado da GraР·a's view:
|
| |
KILLING THE CROCODILE AGAIN
|
| |
Samora said you had to kill the crocodile when it is still small, because after it grows it is harder to stop it eating us. But Samora died and his successors let the crocodile grow. Indeed, after a while they fed it vitamins so it would grow more quickly. They called it "empowerment" so it seemed serious and not simply closing their eyes to abuses and crimes that began to accumulate under the protection of a state increasingly controlled by the crocodile itself.
|
| |
They were happy to live their better lives, becoming millionaires in a day using bak money they never intended to repay. They knew that when the balloon burst, the state would use out money to fill the gap.
|
| |
...
|
| |
The first balloon was BCM and everything when as planned -- the state paid the bill. ... The problem was the second balloon, Banco Austral, burst before the state had time to cover the previous break, and the Malaysians washed their hands of it. ... This was not according to plan.
|
| |
A competent young man was put in charge to try to clean up, and he began to prove inconvenient. He asked questions in public and private and tried to recover the bad debts. This complicated things badly, because the money was long spent on the good life and luxury mansions ...
|
| |
... The ban was sold to the South Africans, who won't have the same problems acting against debtors among the powerful. So Siba Siba MacuР±cua had to die, so that the report denouncing the crocodile could be cleaned up. ... (metical no 1050 of 14.08.2001)
|
| |
104801E CHISSANO CALLS ON GRADUATES TO FIGHT CORRUPTION
|
| |
Maputo, 25 Aug (AIM) — Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano has compared corruption to the AIDS epidemic, and has called on university graduates to join forces in fighting against both scourges.
|
| |
The fight against the two "viruses" should merit special attention from the whole of society, and, as in the case of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, it is necessary to "break the silence regarding corruption", said Chissano, speaking on Saturday during a graduation ceremony at Maputo's Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM).
|
| |
Corruption, he said, is spreading increasingly throughout Mozambique, affecting, in some cases, the same people who suffer from HIV/AIDS. ...
|
| |
Chissano also paid tribute to those who strove to fight corruption and who fell victim to criminals, mentioning, among other cases, the murders of the country's best-known journalist, Carlos Cardoso, and of the chairman of the Austral Bank, Antonio Siba-Siba Macuacua.
|
| |
Those who fell in the battle against corruption "will continue living in the memory of Mozambicans", said Chissano.
|
| |
The antithesis to men such as Cardoso and Siba-Siba are those who corrupt the body and soul, who, as Chissano put it, "will die forever". ...
|
