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Summary / Joseph Hanlon, 16 September 2001
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The six accused of killing Carlos Cardoso have been formally charged. The trial will be in either November or February, depending on how much further investigation is required.
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The Absa bid to buy Banco Austral has been complicated by the murder of AntСѓnio Siba-Siba MacuР±cua.
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AIM NEWS CAST TUESDAY 11/09/01
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50901E CARDOSO MURDER: SIX ACCUSED TO STAND TRIAL
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Maputo, 11 Sept (AIM) — A trial in the case of last November's assassination of Mozambique's best-known journalist, Carlos Cardoso, editor of the independent newsheet "Metical", now looks certain, with the investigating magistrate indicting six people for the murder.
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Some of the accused have been in detention since late February, some since March: after six months of further investigations and interrogations, the magistrate has decided that there is sufficient evidence against the six for the case to go to trial.
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The dispatch from the magistrate, issued on Monday, names businessman Ayob Abdul Satar and former bank manager Vicente Ramaya as those who will stand trial for ordering Cardoso's murder.
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Those accused of carrying out the murder are Satar's brother, Momade Assife Abdul Satar (who is believed to have provided the gun, an AK-47 assault rifle), Anibal Antonio dos Santos Junior (known as "Anibalzinho"), Manuel Fernandes, and Carlitos Rachid Cassamo.
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These four men are also accused of the attempted murder of Cardoso's driver, Carlos Manjate (who was seriously injured, but survived the attack), and of the illegal possession of firearms.
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A further count against Anibalzinho and Fernandes is that of car theft — the red Citi-Golf used in the assassination was stolen.
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The magistrate also decreed that all six of the accused are to remain in detention until the trial, the date for which has not yet been set.
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The Abdul Satar family and Vicente Ramaya are key figures in one of the country's largest banking scandals — the theft of 144 billion meticais (14 million US dollars at the exchange rate of the time) from the Commercial Bank of Mozambique (BCM) on the eve of its privatisation in 1996.
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Ramaya was the manager of the BCM branch where the fraud took place, and most of the money passed through fraudulent accounts opened in the names of six members of the Abdul Satar family. Although all had been accused of the crime in 1996, the case did not come to trial thanks to serious corruption within the Attorney-General's office.
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Cardoso had tenaciously followed this scandal, and his was one of the strongest voices demanding that those who defrauded the BCM must be brought to justice. He was also investigating other allegations against the Satars — including loansharking and illegal telephone tapping.
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THE MAIL AND GUARDIAN
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
ISSUE DATED 14, 09, 2001
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Absa bid under threat
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Joseph Hanlon
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The fallout from the murder of a corruption-busting Mozambican banker may complicate South African banking giant Absa's bid to buy the bank the murdered man headed.
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Banco Austral's interim president, AntСѓnio Siba-Siba MacuР±cua, was thrown down a 15-storey stairwell at the bank's Maputo headquarters on August 11, two days before Absa was to begin a due-diligence audit of the bank. Absa decided to pursue the deal nevertheless, and is understood to be seriously considering making a formal offer to buy a majority stake.
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It has been reported in Mozambique that Siba-Siba intended to pass sensitive information to Absa's due diligence team.
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Siba-Siba's murder is being linked to the assassination of journalist Carlos Cardoso on November 22 last year. Cardoso was investigating the scandal-ridden Mozambican banking system, where at least $400-million (now about R3,4-billion) has been lost by the two privatised state banks, Austral and Banco Comercial de MoР·ambique.
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On Monday formal charges were laid against the six people accused of killing Cardoso. They were remanded in custody pending trial.
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Austral was privatised in 1997 to Southern Bank Berhad of Malaysia and a consortium of Mozambicans close to the ruling Frelimo party leadership, headed by former minister of industry Octбvio Muthemba. Bad lending — including to political cronies — and corruption were rampant. By the middle of last year Austral was insolvent. Unable or unwilling to plug the hole, the private shareholders handed back their shares to the government on April 3 this year.
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Mozambican central bank Governor AdrРЅano Maleiane said at the time that the hole in Austral was $150-million. It is said some leading Frelimo figures wanted to simply close the bank and bury the history of corruption. But it appears that a few key people in the government were fed up with the growing corruption, and demanded reprivatisation and investigation.
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A preliminary tender for the reprivatisation was called, which Absa won. But before that Maleiane appointed Siba-Siba, who was the central bank head of banking supervision, as acting president of Austral to clean up the mess.
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The highly respected 33-year-old economist began chasing some senior Frelimo figures who were not repaying loans. He also began looking at improper foreign exchange dealings, and possible illegal and improper activities by some senior bank officials.
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But then came Siba-Siba's murder. Mozambican police, assisted by their South African counterparts who were summoned to the scene where Siba-Siba fell to his death on August 11, immediately concluded it was foul play.
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The murders of both Siba-Siba and journalist Cardoso were public, and have been interpreted not simply as a case of investigators being silenced, but also as warnings to others — even an attempt to scare off Absa.
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But Absa decided to stay the course and began its due diligence audit on August 13. It is understood that in spite of Siba-Siba's death Absa received substantial amounts of information. Mozambican sources say Absa found evidence of corruption by both Malaysians and Mozambicans.
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The problem for Absa is how to take over Banco Austral without becoming immersed in a battle within the ruling elite over whether to pursue those who robbed Banco Austral.
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This is the second banking crisis with political overtones in the country. Last year Banco Comercial de Moзambique (BCM) admitted a hole of $160-million — on top of $100-million put in by the government earlier.
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Those charged this week with Cardoso's murder include businessman Ayob Abdul Satar and former BCM bank manager Vicente Ramaya, the alleged masterminds of his death.
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