The Mozambican public prosecutor’s office has reportedly charged businessman Nyimpine Chissano, oldest son of former president Joaquim Chissano, with the murder in November 2000 of the country’s top investigative journalist, Carlos Cardoso.
The country’s national news wire service, AIM, this week quoted a legal source as saying the charge sheet has been before the Maputo City Court for more than a month. It accuses Chissano Jnr of ”joint moral authorship” of Cardoso’s murder.
In addition to alleging he was the man who ordered the hit on Cardoso, the indictment accuses Chissano Jnr of ”various economic crimes”, but AIM does not specify what these are. His parents reportedly intervened to keep their son, who is in poor health, out of jail.
The weekly paper Zambeze reported that a warrant for Chissano’s arrest has been issued.
Earlier this month Reporters Sans Frontiers welcomed the official investigation of Nyimpine Chissano as ”an important signal”. Chissano Jnr gave evidence in the trial last January of Anibal Antonio dos Santos, known as Anabalzinho, who was jailed for 30 years for Cardoso’s murder.
In his evidence Nyimpine Chissano expressed his dislike for Cardoso’s probing journalism, but strongly denied any connection with Anabalzinho and the assassination of the journalist.
Nyimpine Chissano is, however, linked with another of the accused, one Momade Assis Abdul Satar, through a number of cheques Chissano Jnr made out.
At the time of the killing Cardoso was investigating the embezzlement of R112-million from the Commercial Bank of Mozambique. Cardoso had named businesspeople, Satar and his brother in connection with the economic crime.