Legislation: The Government of Mozambique approved an Anti-Corruption Law (Law 6/2004) in 2004 which criminalises extortion, attempted corruption, active and passive bribery. According to Global Integrity 2007, all persons are covered under Law 6/2004; however, in practice it is not clear whether the Law is applied to foreign officials. Moreover, the Law only defines passive and active bribery; it does not cover other forms of corruption such as the diversion of funds, trafficking in influence, illicit enrichment and the laundering of the proceeds from corruption, as pinpointed in a 2008 report by the Centre for Public Integrity (Centro de Integridade Pública Mozambique, CIP). The Anti-Corruption Law is also silent on other forms of corruption such as embezzlement. Nevertheless, according to a July 2011 news article by AFP, the government of Mozambique has proposed new anti-corruption laws and toughened the Penal Code to criminalise embezzlement, influence peddling and graft, and the Parliament is expected to approve the changes. The Law stipulates that all contracts to which state or municipal bodies are party must incorporate an anti-corruption clause and that whistleblowers are to be protected. Public officials now have to present a list of their assets every year and a final list on leaving office. However, according to the US Department of State 2009, only one senior governmental official declared his assets in 2009. Both the US Department of State 2010 and the Bertelsmann Foundation 2010 report that the law is not always effectively enforced, and most high-level political and economic elites are often immune from prosecution, even when the case involves serious crimes. In addition to the law, both the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption have been signed and ratified by Mozambique, but not yet implemented. The Law on Money Laundering from 2002 was in 2004 supplemented with the Decree 37/2004 which provides details on the implementation of supervision authorities and due diligence and reporting procedures. The anti-money laundering law outline as predicate offences for money laundering, drug trafficking, theft, robbery, fraud, trading in arms, terrorism, extortion, corruption, speculation and dealing in contraband. Financial institutions are obliged to conduct costumer identification, and procedures to report suspicious transactions are introduced. The law is criticised for not applying to lawyers, notaries and NGOs that could be susceptible to money laundering. Furthermore, Attorney-General Augusto Paulino, as cited in a April 2011 news article by AllAfrica, stated that the current laws on corruption and the theft of state funds and assets are inadequate and out-of-date. Paulino also pointed out several weaknesses of the current legislation, amongst them, including the current anti-corruption legislation only covers corruption in the public sector, but not in the private sector. Access the Lexadin World Law Guide for a collection of legislation in Mozambique.

Government Strategies: The government passed an Anti-Corruption Strategy 2006-2010 in 2006 which aims at involving all relevant actors in the fight against corruption in Mozambique. The strategy contains operational plans for five sectors: health, education, finance, police and justice. A Technical Commission (CT) has been established to assist the government, civil society, the private sector and the donor community in supervising and coordinating implementation of the strategy.

Anti-Corruption Agencies: In 2005, the Central Office for Combating Corruption (Gabinete Central de Combate à Corrupção, GCCC) was established within the Attorney General's Office (in Portuguese) to replace the now defunct anti-corruption agency from 2003, known as the Anti-Corruption Unit. The GCCC carries out investigations of complaints in relation to corruption-related offences within the public sector and has delegations in Maputo, Beira and Nampula. The unit receives an increasing number of reports on corruption, but the number of investigations and prosecutions is still low, due partly to understaffing and lack of funds and according to Transparency International's National Integrity Systems 2007, also due to a lack of political will to fight corruption. However, the number of investigated cases has increased over the last couple of years. In 2009, the GCCC had 534 cases of corruption and theft of state property under investigation, of which 27 came to trial. Like its predecessor, the GCCC is also heavily funded by USAID. According to the USAID Mozambique Democracy and Governance Assessment 2009, the Supreme Court has decided that the GCCC do not have jurisdiction to investigate embezzlement, as a consequence of the Anti-Corruption Law not criminalising embezzlement. Moreover, Global Integrity 2007 reports that according to the same Supreme Court decision, the GCCC can investigate corruption issues but it cannot prosecute them. Global Integrity 2007 also states that the GCCC is not free of political interference since appointments to the office are made by the Attorney General, who himself is appointed by the government. Moreover, politically important people who are notified to testify before the CCCG are not prosecuted if they refuse to show up.

The Inter-Ministerial Commission for Public Sector Reform (Comissão Interministerial da Reforma do Sector Público - CIRESP) was established in 2000 and is responsible for implementing and monitoring the Anti-Corruption Strategy as well as the Global Strategy of Public Sector Reform. The latter aims at enhancing transparency in the public sector and diminishing red tape. More information about the CIRESP and the reform of the public sector can be found at the website of the Ministry of Public Administration.

Supreme Audit Institution: The Administrative Tribunal (Autoridade Tributária, AT) is the state inspection entity responsible for inspecting the legality of the state and its expenditures. It is formally independent from the government and enjoys juridical and administrative autonomy. However, according to Global Integrity 2007, the appointments to the AT do not always support its independence from the executive; thus, appointments are sometimes based on political considerations, and individuals appointed may have clear party loyalties. In addition, in practice, the head of the AT is not sufficiently protected from removal without relevant justification. Furthermore, the government usually only gives superficial attention to the audit reports. Nevertheless, the institution is singled out in the Tiri National Integrity System Survey 2007 as being increasingly on the front-line in the fight for improved accountability and transparency in the financial management of the state. The same report from Tiri also states that by law, the municipalities’ accounts have to be audited twice annually and the reports will have to be sent to the AT every six months. In case of something doubtful, the TA will send a team of auditors to a specific municipality. Several observers, including Transparency International's National Integrity Systems 2007, note that the AT struggles with inadequate funds and lack of qualified staff, despite ongoing support from the Swedish development agency, SIDA. According to a September 2010 news article by AllAfrica, provincial branches were planned to be set up in Sofala, Zambezia and Nampula provinces, which is believed that they will help to relieve some of the pressure away from the AT in the capital city.

Ombudsman: According to Transparency International's National Integrity Systems 2007, the Ombudsman's Office is a relatively new creation in Mozambique's institutional set up. It was established as an independent institution in 2005 in accordance with Article 256 of the 2004 Constitution, with responsibilities to safeguard justice to citizens, defence of the law and justice in the functioning of the public administration. The Ombudsman's Office is intended to handle complaints and initiate investigations in relation to public administration. If its investigations show that mistakes have been committed by the public administration, the Ombudsman must inform Parliament and the Attorney General. Although it has a constitutional mandate, the Ombudsman's Office has not yet been institutionalised in practice, and according to the US Department of State 2010, no Ombudsman has yet been appointed.

E-Governance: E-governance in Mozambique is not particularly well-developed. Although most ministries and government institutions have websites, many of them are regularly offline. Furthermore, it is not clear to what extent the functioning websites offer any web-based services to companies that can prevent or substitute direct interaction with public officials. Exceptions, however, are the Ministry of Industry and Trade (Ministério da Indústria e Comércio, in Portuguese) and the Portal of the Government (Portal do Governo de Moçambiqu, in Spanish) which offer information on licensing requirements, customs and tax procedures as well as various registration forms.

Whistle-Blowing: Article 13 in the Anti-Corruption Law 2004 provides protection for both public and private sector employees who report cases of corruption committed by public officials. However, a 2008 report by the Centre for Public Integrity (Centro de Integridade Pública Mozambique, CIP) points out that the Law only deals with whistleblower protection ‘very superficially’, and it does not specify the need to protect witnesses. A major impediment in fighting corruption in Mozambique is that many instances of corruption are not reported by households, public officials and companies due to individuals' fear of retaliation and poor protection of whistleblowers in practice. Global Integrity 2007 reports that a mechanism through which public sector corruption can be reported exists in Mozambique, but that the staff rarely act on or investigate complaints. Complaints can be reported to Central Office for Combating Corruption (Gabinete Central de Combate à Corrupção, GCCC) at +258 21 490 051 or online via the Attorney General's website (in Portuguese).

Public Procurement: Public procurement in Mozambique is well-regulated by the Public Procurement Law (Law 54/2005). Prior to the passing of this law, public procurement in Mozambique was characterised by massive and institutionalised fraud and corruption. The new law contains provisions on conflicts of interest for procurement officials, mandatory professional training, requirements for competitive bidding, complaint procedures, and rules for debarment of companies found guilty of violating procurement regulations. Thus, in law, major procurements require competitive bidding, and strict formal requirements limit the extent of sole sourcing. Furthermore, unsuccessful bidders can ask for an official review of the bidding process and can challenge the concrete procurement decision in the courts. According to Tiri Reconstruction National Integrity System Survey Mozambique 2007, the procurement law decentralises procurement not only to line ministries, but also to provincial, district and municipal levels, which could be a source of concern seen in light of the poor evaluation of the capacity of local government administrations to manage their responsibilities. A new central agency, the Functional Unit for Procurement Supervision, has been established to monitor procurement processes, ensure accountability and provide training on new procurement regulations to ministerial staff at all levels. Nevertheless, according to Global Integrity 2007, the effectiveness of procurement processes could be questioned, as companies guilty of major violations of procurement regulations, including bribery, are in practice not prohibited from participating in future procurement bids.

General Comments on the Anti-Corruption Initiatives: The Government of Mozambique has been vocal about its intentions to curb corruption. However, there are concerns that many initiatives are without much support in the political system and that some of the steps are merely 'window-dressing' to please donors. Consequently, some observers note that corruption in Mozambique is not a problem of inadequate laws, but of laws not being enforced. In order to tackle entrenched corruption in the country, stronger anti-corruption legislations will be needed. Currently the Anti-Corruption Law 2004 does not cover private sector corruption, and whistleblower protection is identified by many observers as being weak. Although the Office of Ombudsman was set up in 2005, no Ombudsman has yet been appointed. Last but not least, a more effective oversight of the procurement process will be needed in order to reduce corruption in the procurement sector.