The Mozambican Attorney General’s Office said today that the country is entitled to receive approximately 1.9 billion dollars (1.8 billion euros) as a result of today’s trial in the hidden debts case that was taking place in London.
‘This figure reflects the amounts that the state has already paid under the guarantees, including principal, interest and fees, of the Eurobonds, following the takeover of Ematum, as well as the transaction agreements that the Republic of Mozambique reached, initially with Credit Suisse and other banks and financial institutions and, more recently, with VTBC and BCP,’ says the PGR note distributed to the media following the judgement.
The London Commercial Court ruled today in Mozambique’s favour in the so-called hidden debts case and determined that the shipping group Privinvest must pay compensation for the corruption of 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 is what they did,’ said Judge Robin Knowles, quoted in the judgement released today.
In the statement issued today, the PGR, Mozambique’s representative in the case, also indicates that steps are being taken to reimburse all legal costs resulting from the case.
‘The Attorney General’s Office will continue, within the scope of its constitutional and legal powers, to work with other actors in society, both inside and outside the country, to eradicate corruption and all organised and transnational crime, holding those involved accountable,’ the document reads.
As part of the scandal, Mozambique previously announced two out-of-court settlements.
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).
The hidden debts scandal dates back to 2013 and 2014, when the then Finance Minister Manuel Chang, now in detention in the United States, approved state guarantees on loans from Proinducus, Ematum and MAM to Credit Suisse and VTB banks without parliamentary approval.
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 judgement 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
