The Mozambican Attorney General’s Office said that Mozambique is open to negotiating terms for payment of the compensation it expects to receive from Privinvest as a result of the trail in the hidden debts case in London.
“As we have always said, the state has always been open and remains open to negotiations. If there are any proposals, who knows, they can be negotiated, analysed and then we’ll conclude whether we go ahead or not,’ declared Ângelo Matusse, deputy attorney general, during a press conference.
The London Commercial Court ruled in Mozambique’s favour in the so-called ‘hidden debts’ case and determined that shipping group Privinvest must pay compensation for corruption by former finance minister Manuel Chang.
‘I am convinced that Mr Safa and the Privinvest Group were willing to promise or pay anyone, and specifically Minister Chang (…). And that’s what they did,’ said Judge Robin Knowles, quoted in the trial handed down today.
According to Angelo Matusse, the Privinvest group was ordered to pay a total of 2.3 billion dollars (2.1 billion euros) in damages, but the net amount was set at 1.9 billion dollars (1.8 billion euros), since the authorities had seized various assets.
“It also follows from the judge’s ruling that, since the Mozambican state has recognised that it has recovered assets over the years, this amount should be credited to this figure. That’s why the amount is currently set at 1.9 billion dollars,’ said Ângelo Matusse, who admitted the possibility of an appeal by Privinvest.
The deputy attorney general said that the total amount that Mozambique will receive covers the amounts that the Mozambican state paid in the two out-of-court settlements reached recently, including legal costs, estimated at around 80 million dollars (74 million euros).
In the first, Maputo paid 130 million dollars (119.1 million euros) to financial institutions as part of the out-of-court settlement with Credit Suisse to end the dispute in the London Commercial Court.
In the second agreement, reached with three banks, including Portugal’s BCP, the Mozambican government planned to reduce the ‘state’s exposure’ from 1.4 billion dollars (1.3 billion euros) to 220 million dollars (204 million euros).
‘This figure also reflects the amounts that the Mozambican state is paying following the Ematum Eurobonds,’ added Ângelo Matusse.
The hidden debts scandal dates back to 2013 and 2014, when the then finance minister, Manuel Chang, who is now in detention in the United States, approved state guarantees on loans from Proinducus, Ematum and MAM to the banks Credit Suisse and VTB, in absentia.
Discovered in 2016, the debts were estimated at around 2.7 billion dollars (around 2.55 billion euros), according to figures presented by the Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The trial was the culmination of almost four years of litigation in the British courts, to which the African country appealed alleging corruption, conspiracy to defraud by unlawful means and dishonest assistance to cancel debts and claim financial compensation worth millions of dollars.
Lusa
