Mozambican Finance Minister Adriano Maleiane told a court Friday that his predecessor had covered up $2 billion in debts that plunged the nation into economic collapse. Maleiane is one of the most senior government officials to testify so far in the trial over the so-called “hidden debt” scandal. “As the new minister, the information I had was what was recorded in the state accounts,” he told the court, detailing the steps he has taken to stabilise the treasury.
His testimony was remarkable simply for his presence at the trial in a country where corruption once went unpunished. He also reminded the court that Mozambique was not making payments on the debts that were taken without parliamentary approval and hidden from the Treasury.
“We are not paying what is called today as ‘secret loans’,” he said. Mozambique borrowed $2 billion (1.7 billion euros) in 2013 and 2014 from international banks to supply a tuna-fishing fleet and surveillance ships. The government masked the loans from the country’s parliament, but when the “hidden debt” finally surfaced in 2016, donors such as the International Monetary Fund cut off financial support. An independent audit found $500 million (426 million euros) had been diverted and remains unaccounted for.
The previous finance minister Manuel Chang has been held in South Africa since 2018, pending a US request for extradition to stand trial for using the American financial system to commit fraud as part of the hidden debt scandal. On Thursday, former interior minister Alberto Mondlane told the court that foreign investors who manipulated naval contracts had “managed to enter one of the most important areas of our security”. “Our security was captured by the enemy,” he said.
