Maputo, July 20, 2026 (Lusa) - The Mozambican public prosecutor's office has launched investigations into travel agencies suspected of money laundering, illicit capital flight and tax fraud, and has indicated that it will seek international cooperation to shed light on transactions totalling some €805.5 million.
«We have already initiated the necessary proceedings against them and are carrying out investigations with a view to establishing the facts,» said Deputy Attorney General Amélia Machava Munguambe, on the sidelines of a regional training session on preventing and combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism for judges and members of the public prosecutor's office, held in Maputo.
Without specifying how long the investigation might take, she referred to Mozambican legislation to explain that the process could be lengthy, acknowledging that she might request an extension of the legally prescribed time limits should the case prove to be complex.
«We will analyse the evidence as we come across it, and carry out the necessary forensic investigations so that we can reach a conclusion and proceed with the trials. It would therefore be very difficult to set a specific timeframe,» she said.
She said she would seek international cooperation to shed light on the alleged scheme involving the use of travel agencies for money laundering, illicit capital flight and tax fraud.
«The money has left the country, so our investigation must follow the money wherever it has gone, which will, at some point, require international cooperation. That is why it is not possible for us to give an exact estimate of the timeframe, but we will adhere to what is laid down in the law, which sets out procedural deadlines,» she added, assuring that measures to combat money laundering are currently underway in the country.
She described the relationship between the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Mozambican Financial Intelligence Unit (GIFiM) as positive and necessary in combating and preventing money laundering, financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
On 6 July, Lusa reported that GIFiM had identified strong evidence of travel agencies being used for money laundering, illicit capital flight and tax fraud, after detecting transactions totalling €805.5 million over three years.
In a Strategic Analysis Report, to which Lusa had access, GIFiM states that companies in the travel agency and tourism sector received and handled large sums, mainly in cash, which were subsequently transferred to bank accounts in Mozambique held by an «international organisation», from which the funds were then channelled abroad.
The analysis of the period between January 2022 and September 2025 indicates that these companies transacted «substantial sums of money, in instalments, via cash deposits and bank transfers», amounting to at least 24 million meticais per day (€331,800) in cash deposits, before these funds were transferred to the accounts of the same unidentified «international organisation».
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