Corruption in Mozambique goes unchallenged

The Bank’s new country director for Mozambique and Angola, Michael Baxter appears hesitant to tackle murky allegations of corruption and murder in Mozambique’s financial sector. 2001 saw the near-collapse of two of Mozambique’s private banks, BCM and Austral due to bad lending practises, and the killing of the interim chairman of Austral, Antonio Siba-Siba Macuacua. At the time donors demanded a thorough investigation into both the murder and the financial scandal. However, three years on, as the bank initiates its Country Assistance Strategy in Mozambique both issues appear have been dropped from its agenda.