Hidden debts: “Mozambican PGR maintains accusation of bribery” – DW

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Hidden debts: “Mozambican PGR maintains accusation of bribery” – DW

7:40 CAT | 08 Mar 2021

Fie photo: DW

Was there a “twist in London” in the hidden debt case or not? In an interview with DW, CIP researcher Borges Nhamirre claims that: “The PGR defended the interests of Mozambican [civil] society very well”.

Weekly newspaper ‘Canal de Moçambique’ on Wednesday (03-03) reported a “U-turn” in the so-called “hidden debts” case in London.

According to ‘Canal de Moçambqiue’, the Mozambique Attorney General’s Office (PGR) asked to drop charges that Privinvest’s contracts were obtained through bribery, even after the company said it had paid one million US dollars to the current president of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, in addition to US$10 million to finance the 2014 Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) election campaign.

Privinvest however denies that these payments were bribes, and says they were “campaign donations” or “investments”.

However, the PGR has a different position. And, according to CIP researcher Borges Nhamirre, and contrary to Canal de Moçambique’s Wednesday claim, the PGR has not changed so much as a comma in the prosecution’s case.

In an interview with DW, the analyst at the CIP in Mozambique explains the contours of the case.

Borgesnhamirre.dw_ — *Borges Nhamire, CIP analyst*

DW Africa: Did the Mozambique PGR drop the bribery charge? What remains of the prosecution?

Borges Nhamire (BN): I think that is not what happened. What is at stake is the jurisdiction of the case, whether it will be in the English court or whether it will be in an arbitration tribunal in Switzerland. Privinvest argues that all disputes resulting from the contracts it signed with the three Mozambican companies – Mozambique Asset Management (MAM), Mozambican Tuna Company (EMATUM) and ProIndicus – are to be resolved by the Swiss International Court of Arbitration.

DW Africa: Does the PGR still maintain there was bribery?

BN: The Mozambican PGR maintains the charge of bribery, obviously. People need to understand that two types of bribes [allegedly] took place, one for the signing of guarantees and the other for supply contracts – that is, for the acquisition of equipment and services from Privinvest.

What Mozambique is demanding now is that Privinvest be convicted, along with the other defendants – 12 in total – because there was fraud in the guarantee contracts.

It is also necessary to understand what Mozambique is asking the British court: that the guarantees issued in favour of the three loans be declared null and void. It is not discussing the bribes that [allegedly] took place under the supply contracts.

DW Africa: So there was no “U-turn” in London? There was no change in strategy on the part of the Prosecutor’s Office?

BN: There was not. Mozambique has not dropped any accusations of bribery of Mozambican officials by Privinvest. It simply did not bring charges of bribery under the supply contracts to court; it only took the charge of bribery under the guarantee contracts issued by Manuel Chang, to whom Privinvest confessed to having paid seven million dollars.

DW Africa: You and CIP follow the hidden debt process [closely]. In general, do you think that Attorney General Beatriz Buchili has acted independently and based on legal criteria? Have the interests of Mozambican civil society been well defended ?

BN: I would say that, as a whole, she has defended the interests of Mozambican society very well. If we look at it, the PGR started the process in London in order to declare the guarantees void. What does that mean? This means that the PGR is saying that Mozambique does not want to pay the hidden debts. The Mozambican state is doing this, and it is doing it very well. It is hiring British lawyers with knowledge of the matter, who have already sued Privinvest group companies and group owner, Iskandar Safa – in addition to companies of the Credit Suisse group and their former employees.

So this is the first dimension.

The second dimension is that, in Mozambique, the PGR sued almost everyone [allegedly] involved in the hidden debt process, some of whom were apparently ‘untouchable’. We are talking about former intelligence officers, former ministers and advisers to the [former] president, including his own son.

DW Africa: So do you consider unfounded the accusations that the current president, Filipe Nyusi, has pressured the PGR to withdraw this accusation of bribery?

BN: I have no basis for saying that the president did this. In truth, there was no withdrawal.

Source: Deutsche Welle