Mozambique has won a USD 3.1 billion (EUR 2.8 billion) judgment against shipbuilding company Privinvest in London’s High Court over bribes the country alleged the company paid to its officials and Credit Suisse bankers as part of a “tuna bond” scandal.
Reuters reported the court ruled in “substantially in favor” of the country in the lawsuit, and that Judge Robin Knowles said Mozambique had been exploited by developed institutions and corporations that should have known better. Knowles determined Mozambique is entitled to payment of USD 825 million (EUR 762 million) from Privinvest Owner Iskandar Safa and the company also owes lenders and bondholders an indemnity of just over USD 1.5 billion (EUR 1.4 billion).
The decade-long case was called “the most egregious corruption offense of the decade” by anti-corruption experts. The scandal involved deals between state-owned companies in Mozambique and Lebanon and U.A.E.-based shipbuilding company Privinvest to develop the country’s seafood industry. Mozambique, through a state-owned entity called Empresa Moçambicana de Atum (EMATUM), was part of a scheme that saw Credit Suisse use U.S. wires and the U.S. financial system to defraud investors in securities related to EMATUM.
For its role in the scandal, Credit Suisse was forced to pay penalties of over USD 500 million (EUR 462 million) in a coordinated global resolution with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, and an enforcement action by Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority. The U.S. Department of Justice also targeted Credit Suisse, with the financial firm pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in October 2021.
Mozambique subsequently sued the companies involved with the scandal, including Privinvest and Credit Suisse. The day before a high-profile civil trial between Mozambique and Credit Suisse was set to start in October 2023, the country and the company reached a resolution which saw UBS – which purchased Credit Suisse in June 2023 – forgive part of a loan of less than USD 100 million (EUR 92 million) that Credit Suisse made to Mozambique in 2013.
Privinvest did not ...
