Alleged graft kingpin arrested at airport

The Mozambican authorities on Friday detained a man wanted for fraud and money laundering at Maputo International Airport, reports the Club of Mozambique. According to a report in the independent daily ‘O Pais’, the man, Hussen Gulam, was arrested when he stepped off a plane from Dubai. He is a suspect in a case brought by the Central Office for the Fight against Organised and Transnational Crime (GCCCOT), and is accused of a range of crimes, including tax fraud, moneyvlaundering, forgery and criminal conspiracy. According to the GCCCOT, Gulam set up shell companies in Mozambique, and used them to transfer large sums in US dollars to tax havens. The money was supposedly used to import goods for sale in Mozambique, but the GCCCOT says the goods never entered Mozambique. Gulam, according to the prosecutors, was assisted by corrupt customs officers, lawyers and bank workers in forging documents and exporting capital. Hussen Gulam is the brother of Norolamin Gulam who is detained in the US on charges of drug trafficking, and is another suspect wanted by the GCCCOT. Two other suspects in the same case were recently released by the Maputo City Law Court. But the GCCCOT says the crimes involve 40 other people, including customs clerks and bank workers. No fewer than 62 shell companies are also defendants. Gulam and his brothers are accused of building criminal empires in Maputo and in the northern city of Nampula.

Full report on the Club of Mozambique site