Mozambique debts: Extradition of former Credit Suisse bankers to be considered in London today

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Mozambique debts: Extradition of former Credit Suisse bankers to be considered in London today

1:05 CAT | 08 Mar 2019

File photo: BBC

Westminster Magistrates Court in London was set to consider today a United States request for the extradition of three former Credit Suisse bankers accused of involvement in Mozambique’s ‘ hidden debts’ case.

New Zealand’s Andrew Pearse, former director of Credit Suisse Bank, Britain’s Surjan Singh, director of Credit Suisse Global Financing Group, and Bulgarian Detelina Subeva, the group’s deputy chairperson, were arrested on January 3 and have been awaiting a decision on the request for their extradition to the United States following a lawsuit filed by a US court.

All three are suspected of circumventing and defrauding banks’ internal control systems, omitting important information about the likelihood of corruption in transactions, and eliminating and replacing rules imposed by the financial group.

In a similar instance, former Mozambican finance minister, Manuel Chang, who has been held in South Africa since late December, is also awaiting a decision on his extradition, while the negotiator of the shipbuilding group Privinvest, Lebanese national Jean Boustani, is already detained in the United States.

All are accused of involvement in a corruption scheme that cost the Mozambican state US$ 2.2 billion (EUR 1,950 million) from undeclared loans to Mozambican government-backed companies Ematum, Proindicus and MAM.

The case, which has its own investigation in Mozambique, will be tried in the US under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which outlaws the payment of bribes to members of foreign governments.

In 2016, the revelation of the Mozambican government’s unannounced state guarantees for the loans led to the suspension of aid from the International Monetary Fund and others, contributing to a deterioration in the country’s economic outlook.

Source: Lusa