Mozambique's Supreme Court is reinforcing its capacity to investigate and prosecute corruption, money laundering and transnational organised crime through a four-year project backed by the European Union and the Swiss government and implemented by the Camões Institute for Cooperation and Language.

The Supreme Court announced on Wednesday, 28, the launch of the PRO-JUST project — Strengthening the Criminal Justice Chain in Portuguese-Speaking African Countries (PALOP) and Timor-Leste. The announcement was made by the president of the Supreme Court, Adelino Muchanga, on the sidelines of the 14th Conference of the Forum of Presidents of Supreme Courts of Portuguese-Speaking Countries and Territories, held in Maputo.

According to Muchanga, the initiative responds to the need to strengthen the judicial institutions' response to crimes that, by virtue of their complexity and international dimension, require greater technical capacity, specialisation and inter-agency cooperation. "Corruption is a social ill. I spoke specifically about corruption and transnational organised crime. When that is the case, the responsibility of the state, through its institutions, is to prevent it from happening," the magistrate said.

Muchanga warned that the inability of institutions to respond effectively to criminality risks undermining public confidence in the justice system, making it necessary to reinforce mechanisms for prevention, investigation and accountability.

The PRO-JUST project has already entered its implementation phase in Mozambique following a kick-off meeting held the previous week. "We have already started — last week we held the kick-off meeting," Muchanga said, adding that the initiative is expected to run for four years. The project aims to improve the response capacity of the criminal justice chain, particularly in handling cases related to corruption, money laundering and organised criminal networks operating across national borders.

One of the areas of concern highlighted by the Supreme Court president relates to crimes associated with drug trafficking and consumption, whose complexity demands greater preparedness from the institutions responsible for investigation and prosecution. "It comes to support the courts in reinforcing their capacity to investigate, understand and adjudicate transnational organised crime offences, especially drug trafficking and consumption, which is becoming a growing concern," Muchanga explained.

The initiative is expected to strengthen the technical competencies of the institutions involved, improving their capacity to analyse and process complex criminal cases. The judicial capacity-building effort comes against a backdrop of mounting concern among Mozambican authorities over the presence of international organised criminal networks in the country, particularly those linked to drug trafficking, vehicle theft and kidnapping.

In mid-October, the director-general of the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC), Ilídio Miguel, denounced the presence in Mozambique of international criminal organisations, including a group of Pakistani origin, the Mexican Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) cartels, as well as Brazil's Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC).

The information disclosed by the authorities underscores the challenges faced by the security and justice system in combating organisations that conduct illicit activities across multiple countries. Transnational crime therefore requires a coordinated response among criminal investigation bodies, the public prosecutor's office, the courts and the authorities of countries in the region.

The implementation of PRO-JUST also comes at a time when the Mozambican government is seeking to intensify cooperation with southern African countries to combat the movement of criminal networks across land and maritime borders.

On 15 October, during a Trilateral Planning Cell meeting held in Pretoria, South Africa, the Minister of the Interior, Paulo Chachine, advocated for stronger strategic intelligence-sharing and joint patrols to tackle organised crime. "Our territorial and maritime borders must be bridges for development and legal trade, but must simultaneously be impenetrable walls against criminality," Chachine said.

According to Chachine, regional cooperation is essential to prevent criminal organisations from exploiting weaknesses in border control mechanisms to conduct illicit activities.

With PRO-JUST now operational, Mozambique gains an additional instrument of international cooperation aimed at strengthening the capacity of judicial institutions and improving their response to the most complex categories of crime. The initiative is intended to contribute to a justice system better equipped to confront corruption, money laundering and transnational organised crime, at a time when tackling these phenomena represents a key challenge for security, institutional stability and public trust.