ADDITIONAL PRESS COVERAGE OF U.S. ARREST OF EX-USG

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MAPUTO 001348

SIPDIS
STATE FOR AF/S:HTREGER, AF/PD:LMING, OIG: JLANGE, PYORKMAN,
DS/IP/AF:GFREDERICK
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AMGT OIIP KPAO PINR ASIG CASC ASEC MZ
SUBJECT: ADDITIONAL PRESS COVERAGE OF U.S. ARREST OF EX-USG
CASHIER

REF: (A) MAPUTO 1281;
(B) MAPUTO 1345
1.Since Post's last reporting cable, two additional print
articles have been disseminated about the arrest in Charleston,
South Carolina, of former USAID and Embassy cashier Muftar Ali.
An unofficial translation of the first article and excerpts from
the second article follow:

2.Back page editorial in influential weekly O Pais (press run
of 5,000):
"Alarming Silence"
by Jeremias Langa, Director
The manner in which the Mozambican Government (did not react)
reacted to the detention of the Mozambican citizen Muftar Ali in
the United States for allegedly stealing 200 thousand dollars
while cashier at USAID and then the American Embassy in Maputo
left uncertainties in the air as to what are the true
responsibilities of our Government towards its citizens.
The Government has opted, to date, to devote itself to an
incomprehensible silence in this case, which involves a citizen
who shows a nationality common to all who feel proudly
Mozambican. Thus throughout the whole world, news is currently
being spread that a Mozambican is involved in theft in their
typical arrogance, the Americans, who do not embark in our
euphemisms, they call a spade a spade and our Government does
nothing to explain this to its own citizens, which leaves the
sensation that the Mozambicans are not even protected by their
own Government.
The duty of our Government in explaining this case is still
urgently due, given the complicated circumstances in which the
detention of Muftar Ali took place. Truthfully one can say that
Ali was gently "kidnapped", and by opting for this strategy
instead of "handing him" over to the Mozambican Justice, the
Americans showed they do not trust our judicial system. The best
method they found to do justice was "by their own hands," which,
by the way, is not news in Bush's external policy.
Or let's put it this way, it's more than a simple Mozambican
citizen being detained for an alleged involvement in stealing
money, it is a whole State that is at sake because, even though
the money belongs to the Americans, it was here in Mozambique
where it was stolen, and, having courts here and Muftar Ali not
having escaped, it is here where both USAID, as well as the
American Embassy, should have brought him to justice.
Adding to the silence, there is ignorance of the case shown by
one of our Government's Vice-Ministers in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Cooperation. Jos Coloma responded to O Pas by
saying that this matter "does not fall under his portfolio,"
which is unacceptable, considering that he is a prominent figure
in the MFAC. He may not have the obligation of speaking publicly
on the matter, but he has the obligation to know what happens in
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.
Section 1 of Article 59 of the Constitution of the Republic
states that "In the Republic of Mozambique, everyone has a right
to protection and nobody can be jailed and be submitted to trial
except within the limits of the law." In Muftar Ali's case, the
Americans passed "over" the Law because even if objectively they
did not commit any illegality in the way they took him to the
USA, the facts prior to his trip, namely the investigation he was
subject to, constitute an affirmatively criminal intention of
taking him to the USA at any cost.
Article 41 of the same fundamental law states that, "[e]very
citizen has the right to honor, good name, reputation, protection
of his or her public image and discretion of his or her private
life." The State, meanwhile, is not granting Muftar Ali any of
these rights, namely conceding him judicial assistance to a free
trial.
The problem, as we all know, is that this case does not involve
any simple country, but rather the United States of America, thus
our Government's fear of an eventual diplomatic contraction with
who truly governs the world. But this State has its own laws,
its own Constitution, and the Mozambicans have no other option
but to believe that these judicial instruments serve in all
circumstances.

3.Excerpts from story by the Mozambican Information Agency's
English service, distributed by e-mail:
The wife of a Mozambican jailed in the United States on charges
of theft has claimed that he was "diplomatically kidnapped" and
is currently "illegally imprisoned".
The Mozambican in question, Muftar Ali, is accused of stealing
over 200,000 US dollars while he was employed as a cashier at the
Maputo office of the US Agency for International Development
(USAID).
According to a short press release, issued three weeks ago by the
US State Department, Ali was arrested immediately when he set
foot in the US city of Charleston on 16 September.
* * *
The release quotes Acting USAID Inspector General, Bruce
Crandlemire, as saying: "This indictment and arrest serves as
notice by this office that fraud will not be tolerated, and that
we will aggressively pursue and seek to prosecute those who
attempt to commit acts of fraud, regardless of where they may be
located, or what nationality they might be".
The key phrase here is "regardless of where they may be located".
For if Ali was living in Maputo, how come he was arrested in
Charleston?
His wife claims that he was "diplomatically kidnapped", a claim
that has now been broadcast at length by the Maputo private
television station, STV, and by the weekly paper "O Pais", owned
by the same company, SOICO. Friday's issue of another weekly,
"Savana", repeats the kidnapping charge.
According to the letter sent by Ali's wife, Soraia Mamed Curgy
Ali, to the Mozambican Foreign Ministry, which is printed in full
in "O Pais", her husband's employers informed him on 8 April that
he must at once take 15 days holiday, and that, if they needed
him, they would contact him.
A few days later, the USAID Inspector-General in Pretoria, named
by Soraia Ali as Laszlo Sagi, phoned Ali and said he wanted to
speak with him about "confidential matters".
They met in an up-market Maputo cafe, where the Inspector asked
Ali "several questions concerning his personal life and that of
some colleagues, the goods he owned, and the reasons for his
frequent trips to South Africa.
According to Soraia Ali's letter, other meetings followed in the
presence of a US embassy security officer, named only as Alex.
Ali was informed that he would no longer work at the embassy, but
would be sent to some unspecified other place. This would require
that he take a course and make constant trips abroad. The course
was in Charleston, and in mid-September, Ali was told to take his
passport to the embassy for a visa to be issued.
Apparently, despite these peculiar arrangements and the lack of
any detail about his future job or course, Ali did not smell a
rat. He caught a plane from Maputo on 15 September, following the
route Maputo-Johannesburg-Atlanta-Charleston.
A driver from the US embassy, according to his wife, took him to
the airport with two other people. From Johannesburg and Atlanta
he telephoned his wife - but after he reached Charleston she
heard nothing further from him. Only a few days later did she
receive a phone call from a US official informing her that her
husband had been arrested "for defrauding the American
government".
Soraia Ali's letter requests Mozambican government intervention
to ensure that her husband can "return to Mozambique as quickly
as possible". If he is guilty of fraud, he should be tried in
Mozambique, and given the opportunity to defend himself, she
adds.
The Mozambican authorities have not yet reacted to this letter.
"O Pais" and STV spoke to one of the deputy foreign ministers,
Eduardo Coloma, who said it was not his area, and he had no deep
knowledge of the case.
But he pointed out that there is no extradition treaty between
Mozambique and the United States. No doubt this was a factor that
weighed in the minds of the American authorities when they set
their trap for Ali.
Coloma also said that, like any other Mozambican abroad, Ali has
the right to consular assistance from the local Mozambican
Embassy. However, there are no reports that any official from the
Mozambican embassy in Washington has yet visited Ali.
The Portuguese word "rapto" (which translates into English as
"abduction" or "kidnap") is used repeatedly in the "O Pais" and
"Savana" articles.
Yet it is clear from Soraia Ali's account that there was no
abduction. Ali entered the plane voluntarily. No force was used.
A honey trap was set, and he fell headlong into it.
Did the American agents break any Mozambican laws, or, as
"Savana" claims, trample on the Mozambican constitution?
A skillful lawyer might argue that the deceitful offer of a new
job and a training course constitutes a form of fraud. And
doubtless the operations in Maputo of secret agents from the
State Department violates normal diplomatic relations.
But the Americans clearly have no intention of heeding any such
protests. The State Department Inspector General, Howard
Krongard, defended the arrest on the grounds that such efforts
"help to ensure that the US taxpayer dollars are safeguarded and
not exploited for personal gain".
No doubt the Americans will also argue that since the alleged
crime was committed on American premises, and the arrest took
place on American soil, there's nothing to worry about.
Mozambicans, however, will feel distinctly uneasy at the
clandestine operations of American agents, even if the target is
a man accused of a serious crime.
Will Ali receive a fair trial? The State Department insists that
he will. "Criminal charges are not evidence of guilt", its
release said. "A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and
unless proven guilty".
LA LIME