The Sao Tome court of auditors regrets legal proceedings against members
Sao Tome, Sao Tome and Principe (PANA) - The president of the Court of Auditors (CC) of Sao Tome and Principe, José António Monte Cristo, on Wednesday deplored the trial of four auditors from his chamber.
According to official sources, judges of this institution in 2011 illegally collected, during an audit, amounts from the accounts of the court.
"I believe that the right senses will prevail. We are in a democratic state governed by the rule of law where we must respect the parameters of the law," Monte Cristo told reporters last Monday in the national assembly.
"The auditors will not be held responsible for the audit evidence they present in the report. They are justified with supporting documents, the auditors did not invent anything," said Cristo.
Cristo is defending the four auditors who, in his opinion, have nothing to do with the publication of the report in the São Toméan Television journal by the then director of TVS News.
"It was not the auditors who forwarded the case to TVS. This publication took place after the end of this process," he concluded at the national assembly.
In 2011, an audit by the Court of Auditors carried out on the accounts of the courts of Sao Tome, revealed financial irregularities attributed to judges Alice Carvalho, José Silva Gomes Cravid and Frederico da Gloria.
In 2014, the case was closed because the prosecution did not find any incriminating evidence.
The supreme court judges filed another action for civil damages and, after five years, the case was reopened.
The former TVS director and journalist of Portuguese radio (RDP-Africa) and correspondent of Voice of America (VOA) has been notified to pay about 50,000 euros for reparation.
-0- PANA RMG/DD/CJB/IS/MTA/RA 24Jul2019
