A Mozambican judge said he would give a verdict on January 31 in the high profile murder trial of the country’s top investigative journalist, state radio said on Tuesday.
Six men are accused in the murder of Carlos Cardoso who was shot to death with his driver in November 2000 while traveling on one of Maputo’s main roads.
The trial, being heard by Judge Augusto Paulino which began in November, has rivited the poor southern African country.
Cardoso, the editor and owner of the independent Metical had been investigating the country’s largest banking scandal, the 1996 theft of $14-million from the Commercial Bank of Mozambique. He had urged the attorney-general’s office to try all those involved in the bank’s scandal and implicated a prominent family, the Abdul Satar’s as being involved in the theft. In 1996, members of the family opened accounts in the bank which was about to be privatised. The family is alleged to have deposited dozens of worthless checks in these accounts and withdrew $14-million of cash.
Ayob Abdul Satar and bank manager Vincente Ramaya were both charged with ordering Cardoso’s killing. Abdul Satar’s brother, Momade Assife Abdul Satar, Anibal Antonio dos Santos Junior, Manuel Fernandes, and Carlitos Rachid Cassamo were charged with carrying it out. Dos Santos Junior, is being tried in absence following his escape from prison.
If found guilty the six face jail terms from 20 to 24 years. A former attorney general, a former cabinet minister, and President Joaquim Chissano’s son, Nyimpine, are among a list of prominent people being investigated in connection with the murder. – Sapa-AP