Mozambique: Privinvest authorised by UK court to summons president – Lusa

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Mozambique: Privinvest authorised by UK court to summons president – Lusa

7:45 CAT | 21 May 2021

File photo: Lusa

The shipping group Privinvest was on Friday authorised by a British court to summons the President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, as part of the ‘hidden debts’ case underway in London.

At a hearing at the Commercial Court, part of the High Court in London, the group made an application to be able to summons Nyusi, who is referred to as the “fourth party”, and five other third parties to the case about potential liability in the case.

Also read: Shipbuilder gets go-ahead for lawsuit against Mozambican leader in tuna scandal – Reuters

The five assistants are former Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, his eldest son Armando Ndambi Guebuza, former Mozambican Finance Minister Manuel Chang, former director of Economic Intelligence of SISE António Carlos do Rosario and former director of the State Information and Security Services (SISE) Gregório Leão.

If Mozambique “can establish the illegality of the payments made, then my clients have claims for contributions to the assistants and the fourth party taking into account that if we are responsible for those payments, then the recipients are also responsible for those payments,” said the lawyer representing Privinvest, Duncan Matthews.

The Mozambican Attorney General’s Office launched this case in the British courts in 2019 to try to cancel the $622 million debt owed by state company ProIndicus to Credit Suisse and seek compensation to cover all losses resulting from the hidden debts scandal.

At issue are the hidden debts of the Mozambican state of around US$2 billion (1.8 billion euros) contracted between 2013 and 2014 in the form of loans with the British subsidiaries of investment banks Credit Suisse and VTB on behalf of Mozambican state companies Proindicus, Ematum and MAM.

The financing was for the purchase of tuna fishing boats and for maritime security equipment and services provided by the Privinvest companies.

Mozambique claims that Manuel Chang did not have the authority to sign the sovereign guarantees and that they are unconstitutional and illegal because Mozambique’s parliament did not approve the loans.

Privinvest, which denies any wrongdoing, could be ordered to pay damages if it is proven to have made corrupt payments to Mozambican state officials.

“There were a number of different types of agreements and payments, which, to the best of my clients’ knowledge, were legitimate agreements and payments. Among those to whom or on whose behalf payments were made was President Nyusi, who was the Minister of Defence,” Matthews said.

Filipe Nyusi and the other leaders and former officials of the Mozambican state are already the target of summonses from Credit Suisse, which also wants them to be held responsible if it loses the lawsuit.

The issue of the Head of State’s immunity was discussed at length today, but ultimately Judge Sara Cockerill ruled that it should not be an obstacle to the application.

However, she did not authorise notification by alternative means, such as email, so it will have to be made directly to the president’s palace or through the Mozambican courts, which could further delay the process.

According to Matthews, the Attorney General’s lawyers have not confirmed whether Filipe Nyusi has been informed of these developments, nor have they opposed or approved the application.

“It is a curiosity of this process that the state seems to be willing to throw to the wolves all the other participants in the process, except the now President,” he mocked.

Source: Lusa