The ManicaPost
Mozambicans are paying more than they should for liquid fuels, because of corruption, particularly in the form of over-invoicing, according to a study by the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), which was released in Maputo on Monday.
The report estimates that between 2013 and 2015, an additional 80 million US dollars was spent on importing fuel, because of over-invoicing.
The re-export of fuel is also plagued with corruption. When imported fuels are intended to be sold outside Mozambique, in neighbouring countries, they enjoy tax exemptions. Some of the fuel importing companies take advantage of this by declaring as re-exports fuel which is sold in Mozambique.
CIP could not estimate how much tax the Mozambican state has lost through these fraudulent schemes, but it was certain that at least 20 per cent of the fuel declared as being in transit is in fact sold within Mozambique.
CIP accused the publicly owned fuel company, Petromoc, of massive over-invoicing, in the period when it was the only company that could import domestic gas. The Petromoc over-invoicing, it claimed, reached 400 dollars a tonne. — AllAfrica News
