“INSS case”

The Superior Court of Appeal (TSR) of Maputo has upheld the definitive indictment sentence concerning  the 12 defendants accused of involvement in the diversion of 113 million meticais at the National Social Security Institute (INSS), Notícias reported on Saturday.

The case involves former labour minister Maria Helena Taipo.

The decision, Noticias reports,  was taken after the TSR partially denied the appeal filed by defendant Anastácia Samuel Zita, former director of the Directorate of Migrant Labour. Anastácia Zita had filed an appeal against part of the definitive indictment handed down by the Maputo City Judicial Court. The TSR not only dismissed the appeal, but also upheld the definitive indictment passed in the first instance court against all defendants.The TSR did however change the constraints applied to co-defendants Anastácia Samuel Zita and José António Monjane, restoring them to freedom subject to statement of identity and residence.This leaves Maria Helena Taipo the only defendant still detained in the context of the so-called “INSS case”.

In the follow up on the case – related to the misuse of funds allocated to the National Directorate of Migrant Labour, particularly miners’ pensions, and opened by the Central Office for Combating Corruption (GCCC) at Maputo City Judicial Court in May, 2019 – the Attorney General’s Office announced on Friday (May 15) that the Third Criminal Section of the Superior Court of Appeal has upheld the first instance decision.

The defendants in this case had lodged an appeal against the definitive indictment ruling issued by the 10th Criminal Section of Maputo City Court on the case referred to, in which the 11 defendants, including the former minister of labour and the then director of the Directorate of Migrant Labour, are accused of embezzlement, abuse of trust, economic participation in business and forgery of documents.