Hidden debts: Mozambican lawsuit filed in London risks a contradiction – NGO

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Hidden debts: Mozambican lawsuit filed in London risks a contradiction – NGO

5:27 CAT | 10 Dec 2019

Credit Suisse, bank involved in hidden debts. [File photo: DW]

Budget Monitoring Forum expresses concern about the risk of the lawsuit which “fails because the two bank guarantees the attorney general is requesting be cancelled in London are considered legal in Mozambique.”

In February, Mozambique’s Attorney General’s Office (PGR), sued, on behalf of the Mozambican state, Credit Suisse, three individuals who worked at the institution when the hidden debt was contracted, and Jean Boustani, a negotiator for Privinvest shipbuilder, for alleged irregularities in the contracts with the national companies involved in the case.

The Budget Monitoring Forum (FMO), which has been following the ‘hidden debts’ case, recalls that the “first hearing of the case in London has already taken place. The various parties involved in the case filed by the Mozambican PGR have requested more time to submit their responses.”

And the platform, which brings together about 20 NGOs, is confident that further details of the case will follow. Denise Namburete, head of the FMO, says: “We believe that in the first quarter of next year, we will have more information on the response of each of the [parties] involved in the court [case].”

A gigantic contradiction

Mosambik Maputo - Denise Namburete, mitglied von Fórum de Monitoria do Orçamento — *FMO’s Denise Namburete*

Denise Namburete makes a positive evaluation of the case filed by the PGR, saying that “from the perspective of the FMO, it is very strong, solid and well-constructed.”

However, the Forum identifies one drawback and expresses concern at the risks attendant on the accusation in London. This is “the fact that the two bank guarantees the PGR is requesting be cancelled in court in London are considered legal in Mozambique.” “It is a gigantic contradiction,” she says.

“We are not going to see the judge cancelling, in the London market, a guarantee whose validity remains intact in the international market,” she fears.

The Mozambican state hopes a favourable outcome to the lawsuit will enable it to demand compensation from the companies involved in the case of hidden debts valued at two billion euros.

Mosambik Beatriz Buchili — *Beatriz Buchili, Attorney General of the Republic*

FMO calls on the Constitutional Council for speedier procedure

“We would like to re-emphasise the importance and urgency of the Constitutional Council’s Proindicus and MAM rulings[two of the three companies involved in the ‘hidden debts’ case], so that these rulings may support and enforce the PGR’s case in London, and also reinforce arbitration cases in Geneva and Paris,” the FMO announced.

About two months after PGR filed its lawsuit in London (in April), Privinvest filed two international arbitration actions in Geneva and Paris against the Mozambican state, demanding hundreds of thousands of Euros in compensation.

Source: Deutsche Welle