The Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) recently approved the operational plan to combat price speculation, which will begin to be implemented soon, as part of ensuring the festive season, according to criminal investigation inspector Mizay Salussinga
The national economy has been experiencing constant shocks with the increasing change in the prices of basic food products and this has led to price speculation, especially in informal markets, which led the SIC to think regarding a strategic plan to combat such practice within the scope of festive season ahead.
The criminal investigation inspector, Mizay Salussinga, expressed concern regarding the levels of speculation in the prices of basic food products practiced by local economic agents, especially by those carrying out commercial activity in cities with a greater population concentration.
Mizay Salussinga, who spoke during the round table in reference to the 48th anniversary of the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC), and who was invited to address the topic “preventing and combating price speculation and product hoarding” , highlighted the incidence of economic crimes and assured that the body to which he belongs has worked to combat speculation and hoarding.
With the aim of responding to this and other problems, the operational plan to combat price speculation has already been approved as part of ensuring the festive season. He called on all those responsible for greater supervision of the activities of economic agents, with a view to preventing price speculation, meaning that the fixing of product prices must comply with criteria pre-established by the Government and is mandatory.
Entrepreneurs who disobey this criterion face fines or the deprivation of their business licenses. “In the country’s current economic and financial situation, combined with the recently adopted floating exchange rate regime, many economic agents take the opportunity to speculate on prices as they see fit. This attitude constitutes a crime and penalizes the citizen”, he stressed.
The official said that guaranteeing individual and collective security and fairness in economic activity is fundamental to the stability of any society, which is why police authorities have the responsibility to ensure compliance with these fundamental rights, through the intensification of their actions in various domains of the social sphere.
“Every day, we hear reports of people who were deceived by disloyal businessmen who, driven by easy profits, line their pockets, taking advantage of peaceful citizens”, he lamented. He also stated that other traders, in order to avoid tax authorities and deceive customers, do not display prices in their windows, a practice that citizens must report to regulatory bodies, so that legality can be restored.
The “good news” of guarantee judges
On the other hand, the implementation of the function of the guarantee judge is seen, for many people, as a figure that will bring greater supervision to the public prosecutor’s magistrates, thus also being able to avoid arbitrary arrests and excessive preventive detention. This matter was addressed by the deputy commissioner of criminal investigation, Joaquim Caputo, who considers the guarantee judge to be an innovative element that is allowing greater dynamics in meeting process deadlines, as well as guaranteeing the rights, freedoms and fundamental guarantees of the defendants. .
The director of the criminal investigation school also assured that, in the first phase, there will be 158 guarantee judges, distributed in the different courts of common jurisdiction in the country, namely in the Supreme Court, in Luanda, in the Courts of Appeal and District Courts spread across the country, as well as in the National Directorate of Investigation and Criminal Action (DNIAP). He considers that in the Criminal Procedure Code of 1929 there was the presence of a single prosecutor, who was responsible and supervised legality, through the data provided by the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC), in the preparatory instruction phase. .
However, currently, with the application of the 2020 Code, it is the guarantee judge who supervises and monitors the rights of the accused citizen, before the trial. “The first impression, eventually, is that, with the new paradigm, the functions of the Public Ministry — a body of the Attorney General’s Office essential to the judicial function of the State — were completely emptied during the procedural investigation. However, without prejudice to the supervision of citizens’ fundamental guarantees, carried out by judicial magistrates, criminal proceedings will continue to be under the responsibility of the Public Prosecutor’s Office”, he maintained.
Joaquim Caputo also said that the Public Ministry may even carry out preliminary interrogation of the detainee. Prosecutors fail to order preventive detention or other precautionary measures for detainees. This competence is now in the hands of the guarantee judge, who is also responsible for preparing the pronouncement order, which arises if there is a need to request a contradictory instruction, requested by the defendant or his assistant.
