Mozambique’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched formal proceedings against travel agencies suspected of money laundering, illegal capital flight and tax fraud, involving transactions estimated at 805,5 million euros. Deputy Attorney General Amélia Machava Munguambe confirmed the investigation on the margins of a regional training session for judicial and prosecutorial magistrates in Maputo focused on countering money laundering and terrorist financing.

Munguambe declined to indicate a timeframe for the enquiry, noting that Mozambican legislation permits extensions to statutory deadlines where case complexity warrants it. She acknowledged that forensic evaluations would be required before conclusions could be drawn and cases advanced. Given that the funds in question have already left the country, the investigation is expected to require international cooperation to trace their ultimate destinations — a factor that makes any estimate of duration unreliable.

The case originates from a Strategic Analysis Report produced by Mozambique’s Financial Intelligence Office (GIFiM), which identified strong indications that companies in the travel and tourism sector were being used as conduits for illicit flows. According to the report, covering January 2022 to September 2025, these firms received and moved substantial sums predominantly in cash, structured into instalments through deposits and transfers. Cash deposits reached at least 24 million meticais per day, equivalent to roughly 331,8 thousand euros. The funds were subsequently channelled into Mozambican bank accounts held by an unnamed “international organisation,” from which they were directed abroad.

Munguambe characterised the working relationship between the Public Prosecutor’s Office and GIFiM as constructive and necessary for countering money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing, and affirmed that enforcement activity in this area is ongoing.