Good afternoon. Suicide is the provisional verdict issued by the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) on the death of Pedro Ferraz Reis, chief financial officer and board member at Portuguese-owned bank BCI in Mozambique, who was found dead at the Polana Hotel in Maputo on Monday evening. Sernic says that he left work, bought knives and rat poison, and then went to the hotel where he wounded himself and ingested the poison. Images that appear to show Reis buying the knives and poison have been shared on social media, probably leaked by Sernic in order to back up their verdict.
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But social networks, which have diverted their attention from commenting on the floods and the government’s response to them, are having none of it. Reis worked at one of Mozambique’s major banks and sat on its credit committee, which would have considered applications for loans from many people connected to the ruling Frelimo party. Where there is wealth in Mozambique, there is usually Frelimo. These people are able to use their influence to get bank loans that businesspeople without Frelimo connections would not be able to secure. When they have trouble repaying, they are usually able to persuade the bank to delay starting formal recovery proceedings, something that would be humiliating as it involves having their name published by court order. As such, rumours have spread that Reis was killed by powerful people over a debt problem. There is no evidence at present to support such an idea.
