US embassy cable - 05MAPUTO1348

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MAPUTO 001348 
 
SIPDIS 
STATE FOR AF/S:HTREGER, AF/PD:LMING, OIG: JLANGE, PYORKMAN, 
DS/IP/AF:GFREDERICK 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AMGT, OIIP, KPAO, PINR, ASIG, CASC, ASEC, MZ 
SUBJECT: ADDITIONAL PRESS COVERAGE OF U.S. ARREST OF EX-USG 
CASHIER 
 
REF: (A) MAPUTO 1281; 
(B) MAPUTO 1345 
1.Since Post's last reporting cable, two additional print 
articles have been disseminated about the arrest in Charleston, 
South Carolina, of former USAID and Embassy cashier Muftar Ali. 
An unofficial translation of the first article and excerpts from 
the second article follow: 
 
2.Back page editorial in influential weekly O Pais (press run 
of 5,000): 
"Alarming Silence" 
by Jeremias Langa, Director 
The manner in which the Mozambican Government (did not react) 
reacted to the detention of the Mozambican citizen Muftar Ali in 
the United States for allegedly stealing 200 thousand dollars 
while cashier at USAID and then the American Embassy in Maputo 
left uncertainties in the air as to what are the true 
responsibilities of our Government towards its citizens. 
The Government has opted, to date, to devote itself to an 
incomprehensible silence in this case, which involves a citizen 
who shows a nationality common to all who feel proudly 
Mozambican. Thus throughout the whole world, news is currently 
being spread that a Mozambican is involved in theft in their 
typical arrogance, the Americans, who do not embark in our 
euphemisms, they call a spade a spade and our Government does 
nothing to explain this to its own citizens, which leaves the 
sensation that the Mozambicans are not even protected by their 
own Government. 
The duty of our Government in explaining this case is still 
urgently due, given the complicated circumstances in which the 
detention of Muftar Ali took place. Truthfully one can say that 
Ali was gently "kidnapped", and by opting for this strategy 
instead of "handing him" over to the Mozambican Justice, the 
Americans showed they do not trust our judicial system. The best 
method they found to do justice was "by their own hands," which, 
by the way, is not news in Bush's external policy. 
Or let's put it this way, it's more than a simple Mozambican 
citizen being detained for an alleged involvement in stealing 
money, it is a whole State that is at sake because, even though 
the money belongs to the Americans, it was here in Mozambique 
where it was stolen, and, having courts here and Muftar Ali not 
having escaped, it is here where both USAID, as well as the 
American Embassy, should have brought him to justice. 
Adding to the silence, there is ignorance of the case shown by 
one of our Government's Vice-Ministers in the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs and Cooperation. Jos Coloma responded to O Pas by 
saying that this matter "does not fall under his portfolio," 
which is unacceptable, considering that he is a prominent figure 
in the MFAC. He may not have the obligation of speaking publicly 
on the matter, but he has the obligation to know what happens in 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. 
Section 1 of Article 59 of the Constitution of the Republic 
states that "In the Republic of Mozambique, everyone has a right 
to protection and nobody can be jailed and be submitted to trial 
except within the limits of the law." In Muftar Ali's case, the 
Americans passed "over" the Law because even if objectively they 
did not commit any illegality in the way they took him to the 
USA, the facts prior to his trip, namely the investigation he was 
subject to, constitute an affirmatively criminal intention of 
taking him to the USA at any cost. 
Article 41 of the same fundamental law states that, "[e]very 
citizen has the right to honor, good name, reputation, protection 
of his or her public image and discretion of his or her private 
life." The State, meanwhile, is not granting Muftar Ali any of 
these rights, namely conceding him judicial assistance to a free 
trial. 
The problem, as we all know, is that this case does not involve 
any simple country, but rather the United States of America, thus 
our Government's fear of an eventual diplomatic contraction with 
who truly governs the world. But this State has its own laws, 
its own Constitution, and the Mozambicans have no other option 
but to believe that these judicial instruments serve in all 
circumstances. 
 
3.Excerpts from story by the Mozambican Information Agency's 
English service, distributed by e-mail: 
The wife of a Mozambican jailed in the United States on charges 
of theft has claimed that he was "diplomatically kidnapped" and 
is currently "illegally imprisoned". 
The Mozambican in question, Muftar Ali, is accused of stealing 
over 200,000 US dollars while he was employed as a cashier at the 
Maputo office of the US Agency for International Development 
(USAID). 
According to a short press release, issued three weeks ago by the 
US State Department, Ali was arrested immediately when he set 
foot in the US city of Charleston on 16 September. 
* * * 
The release quotes Acting USAID Inspector General, Bruce 
Crandlemire, as saying: "This indictment and arrest serves as 
notice by this office that fraud will not be tolerated, and that 
we will aggressively pursue and seek to prosecute those who 
attempt to commit acts of fraud, regardless of where they may be 
located, or what nationality they might be". 
The key phrase here is "regardless of where they may be located". 
For if Ali was living in Maputo, how come he was arrested in 
Charleston? 
His wife claims that he was "diplomatically kidnapped", a claim 
that has now been broadcast at length by the Maputo private 
television station, STV, and by the weekly paper "O Pais", owned 
by the same company, SOICO. Friday's issue of another weekly, 
"Savana", repeats the kidnapping charge. 
According to the letter sent by Ali's wife, Soraia Mamed Curgy 
Ali, to the Mozambican Foreign Ministry, which is printed in full 
in "O Pais", her husband's employers informed him on 8 April that 
he must at once take 15 days holiday, and that, if they needed 
him, they would contact him. 
A few days later, the USAID Inspector-General in Pretoria, named 
by Soraia Ali as Laszlo Sagi, phoned Ali and said he wanted to 
speak with him about "confidential matters". 
They met in an up-market Maputo cafe, where the Inspector asked 
Ali "several questions concerning his personal life and that of 
some colleagues, the goods he owned, and the reasons for his 
frequent trips to South Africa. 
According to Soraia Ali's letter, other meetings followed in the 
presence of a US embassy security officer, named only as Alex. 
Ali was informed that he would no longer work at the embassy, but 
would be sent to some unspecified other place. This would require 
that he take a course and make constant trips abroad. The course 
was in Charleston, and in mid-September, Ali was told to take his 
passport to the embassy for a visa to be issued. 
Apparently, despite these peculiar arrangements and the lack of 
any detail about his future job or course, Ali did not smell a 
rat. He caught a plane from Maputo on 15 September, following the 
route Maputo-Johannesburg-Atlanta-Charleston. 
A driver from the US embassy, according to his wife, took him to 
the airport with two other people. From Johannesburg and Atlanta 
he telephoned his wife - but after he reached Charleston she 
heard nothing further from him. Only a few days later did she 
receive a phone call from a US official informing her that her 
husband had been arrested "for defrauding the American 
government". 
Soraia Ali's letter requests Mozambican government intervention 
to ensure that her husband can "return to Mozambique as quickly 
as possible". If he is guilty of fraud, he should be tried in 
Mozambique, and given the opportunity to defend himself, she 
adds. 
The Mozambican authorities have not yet reacted to this letter. 
"O Pais" and STV spoke to one of the deputy foreign ministers, 
Eduardo Coloma, who said it was not his area, and he had no deep 
knowledge of the case. 
But he pointed out that there is no extradition treaty between 
Mozambique and the United States. No doubt this was a factor that 
weighed in the minds of the American authorities when they set 
their trap for Ali. 
Coloma also said that, like any other Mozambican abroad, Ali has 
the right to consular assistance from the local Mozambican 
Embassy. However, there are no reports that any official from the 
Mozambican embassy in Washington has yet visited Ali. 
The Portuguese word "rapto" (which translates into English as 
"abduction" or "kidnap") is used repeatedly in the "O Pais" and 
"Savana" articles. 
Yet it is clear from Soraia Ali's account that there was no 
abduction. Ali entered the plane voluntarily. No force was used. 
A honey trap was set, and he fell headlong into it. 
Did the American agents break any Mozambican laws, or, as 
"Savana" claims, trample on the Mozambican constitution? 
A skillful lawyer might argue that the deceitful offer of a new 
job and a training course constitutes a form of fraud. And 
doubtless the operations in Maputo of secret agents from the 
State Department violates normal diplomatic relations. 
But the Americans clearly have no intention of heeding any such 
protests. The State Department Inspector General, Howard 
Krongard, defended the arrest on the grounds that such efforts 
"help to ensure that the US taxpayer dollars are safeguarded and 
not exploited for personal gain". 
No doubt the Americans will also argue that since the alleged 
crime was committed on American premises, and the arrest took 
place on American soil, there's nothing to worry about. 
Mozambicans, however, will feel distinctly uneasy at the 
clandestine operations of American agents, even if the target is 
a man accused of a serious crime. 
Will Ali receive a fair trial? The State Department insists that 
he will. "Criminal charges are not evidence of guilt", its 
release said. "A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and 
unless proven guilty". 
LA LIME