US embassy cable - 04MAPUTO636

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MAPUTO 000636 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
DEPT FOR AF/S AND INL/AAE 
PRETORIA FOR SSNYDER 
DOJ FOR OPDAT JSILVERWOOD 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCOR, KCRM, KJUS, PGOV, MZ 
SUBJECT: BCM TRIAL: WAITING FOR A VERDICT ON MAY 25 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: The verdict in the BCM bank fraud trial 
will be handed down on May 25. The case involves nineteen 
defendants accused of defrauding fourteen million USD from 
the Commercial Bank of Mozambique (BCM) between March and 
August 1996. Most commentators do not expect any senior bank 
officials to be implicated in the verdict. With preparations 
underway for the general election later this year, the 
verdict could still hurt FRELIMO, as they strive to present 
themselves as effectively fighting corruption. End summary. 
 
2. (U) The Basic Elements of the Case: In this trial, 
nineteen defendants including a Maputo BCM branch manager, 
numerous other low-level bank employees, the Satar brothers 
(who were owners of Unicambios exchange house), and some 
Unicambios employees are accused of bank fraud. The Satar 
brothers, previously convicted for ordering the murder of 
investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso, are also alleged to 
be the masterminds behind this fraud scheme. The Satar 
family has dual Mozambican and Pakistani citizenship. Momade 
Abdul Satar, also known as "Nini," was sentenced last year to 
23 years in prison for his involvement in the Cardoso murder. 
His brother, Tayobe, fled the country with his parents and 
is rumored to be in Dubai or Pakistan. The defendants are 
accused of perpetrating fraud involving sixty certified 
checks, totaling fourteen million USD, that were cashed at 
the branch in question despite insufficient funds. The 
branch manager had to override the computer system to allow 
the checks to be cashed, and he testified that senior 
managers, who were not standing trial, had to endorse the 
checks. 
 
3. (SBU) Little Public Attention: The relatively uneventful 
BCM trial, which spanned from December 12, 2003, to March 24, 
2004, did not provoke the same kind of reaction from common 
Mozambicans as the earlier Carlos Cardoso murder trial. 
While the trial generated much press coverage, the 
Mozambican public has not been following the case nearly as 
closely as the Cardoso trial just over a year ago. This is 
due in part to the technical aspect of the financial crimes 
involved and the public sense that the defendants on trial 
did not represent the true high-level political figures 
behind the fraud. Once the verdict is handed down later this 
month, the next of the big trial in the public eye will be 
the Siba-Siba Macuacua murder case, which is likely to prove 
more sensational. Macuacua, the Central Bank employee 
appointed as the CFO of Banco Austral, was thrown down the 
stairwell of the fourteen-story bank building in August 2001 
while investigation a similar fraud purported to involve 
unpaid loans to senior government officials' family members 
and business partners. 
 
4. (SBU) Higher Levels Seen as Untouched: Most observers 
cynically expect the trial to result in convictions of the 
current defendants, without frying any bigger fish. Among 
the board members implicated by the defendants is Teotonio 
Comiche, brother of current Maputo mayor and FRELIMO 
Political Commission member Eneas Comiche. None of the 
senior managers who provided testimony are currently under 
investigation, despite attempts by the lawyer for the main 
defendant to expose involvement of the well-connected former 
board members. The husband of PM Luisa Diogo, prominent 
lawyer Albano Silva, is the private prosecutor in the case, 
representing the board's interests (BCM has since been merged 
into BIM, Mozambique's largest private commercial bank. Many 
speculated that Silva's purpose from the onset has been to 
shield Teotonio Comiche and his fellow administrator, Augosto 
Candida, from prosecution. 
 
5. (SBU) Death Threats and Accusations At The End: After 
months of complicated testimony centering on the bank's 
procedure, the testimony become more interesting towards the 
close. In the last week of the trail, Silva claimed that he 
had received numerous death threats on his cell phone. 
Additionally, the main defendant Vicente Ramaya, submitted a 
list of 69 individuals alleged to have benefited from the 
fraud. The testimony involved tales of large sums of cash 
being delivered in sports bags, and illicit trips to South 
Africa to deliver cash. In his closing statement, "Nina" 
Satar accused another BCM board member, Alberto Calu, of 
involvement in money laundering and lamented that the senior 
managers are too close to FRELIMO to be successfully 
prosecuted. For his part, Ramaya explained that at the time 
of his arrest in 1996, he was assured that he would be 
released on bail, which he was for a small amount. However, 
he claimed that his family received death threats. The 
dramatic closing arguments of Silva overshadowed those of the 
public prosecutor, Ana Maria Gemo. Silva vehemently denied 
accusations that he attempted to bribe the judge, and traded 
thinly veiled insults with the defense attorneys, including 
the accusation that Ramaya's attorney had tried to bribe 
Supreme Court Justices who would hear any appeal of the 
Cardoso verdict. He reminded the court of the assassination 
attempt on him in 1999 and detailed the text messages on his 
phone with death threats. 
 
6. (SBU) Comment: The public has been largely disappointed 
with the trial and does not expect any surprises when the 
verdict is announced later this month. There has been little 
live television or radio coverage and the press took some 
time to give much play to the story. As opposed to the 
Cardoso Murder Trial which seized the country's attention in 
2003, the complicated financial transactions at the core of 
this case failed to generate much public interest. Presiding 
Judge Achifaro Aboobacar will be transferred to the Nampula 
provincial court in June. He certainly will not be named man 
of the year in the press, as was the judge presiding over the 
closely-watched Cardsoso trial. 
 
7. (SBU) Comment Continued: The BCM Trial highlights the 
mixed picture of the government's efforts to tackle 
corruption. On the one hand, the government did bring this 
case to trial prior to elections and allowed unfettered press 
coverage -- despite testimony that accused senior government 
and party officials of wrongdoing. At the same time, the 
case probably only moved forward through donor pressure and 
there is little sense that higher political and bank figures 
allegedly behind the fraud are likely to be charged. 
LA LIME