2023-10-17 17:45:18
Mozambique is seeking more than $3 billion in damages from Emirati and Lebanese shipbuilder Privinvest in connection with the ten-year-old “tuna bond” scandal, the High Court of Mozambique was told on Tuesday. London.
Republic Attorney Jonathan Adkin said the suit against Privinvest and its owner, French shipping magnate Iskandar Safa, is now valued at about $3.1 billion, including $700 million in losses and $2.4 billion in potential liabilities.
The trial had been delayed by the African country’s last-minute deal with UBS, the new owner of Credit Suisse, prompting Mozambique to focus on Privinvest.
Mozambique accuses Privinvest and Safa of paying more than $136 million in bribes to officials and Credit Suisse bankers to obtain favorable terms for contracts, including water exploitation coastal areas of the republic, rich in tuna.
Safa and Privinvest deny any wrongdoing. Privinvest said it had complied with its contractual obligations and that all payments made were investments, consultant fees, legitimate remuneration or contributions to political campaigns.
The case concerns agreements entered into by state-owned companies with Privinvest to obtain loans and bonds from banks, including Credit Suisse, in 2013 and 2014, for the purchase of fishing boats and maritime security . These projects were supported by undisclosed state guarantees.
But hundreds of millions of dollars disappeared, and when government debt was exposed in 2016, donors such as the International Monetary Fund temporarily cut off their support, triggering a currency collapse, defaults and financial turbulence.
Mozambique alleges that Privinvest paid bribes on an “industrial scale”, involving the “grand corruption” of officials, including Mozambique’s former finance minister, Manuel Chang, according to court filings.
Mr Chang was extradited to the United States where in July he pleaded not guilty to fraud and money laundering charges linked to the tuna bond scandal.
At the High Court in London, Mr Adkin said Privinvest and two former Credit Suisse bankers had concocted the Mozambique deals “with the sole aim of extracting as much money as possible from the republic”.
Lawyers for Privinvest and Safa deny these allegations. They say the agreements were legitimate attempts to improve security, prevent illegal exploitation of Mozambique’s exclusive economic zone and build a sustainable economy, court filings showed.
Privinvest said it was not its fault that “the opportunity was wasted”. (Reporting by Sam Tobin; additional reporting by Kirstin Ridley; writing by Cynthia Osterman)
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