Court documents:
- The Republic of Mozambique (acting through its Attorney General) v Credit Suisse International and others [2024] EWHC 1957 (Comm)
The Mozambique “tuna bond” or “hidden debt” scandal involved $2 billion of bank loans taken out in secret by Mozambican state-owned companies without the legally required approval of the Mozambique Parliament and backed with undisclosed government guarantees.
The loans provided by Credit Suisse and VTB Bank were intended to finance three maritime projects to be delivered by a Lebanese-UAE shipbuilder, Privinvest. These projects were intended to boost maritime security and develop the country’s fishing industry, but as a High Court judge later concluded, they “had no chance from the start”.
The scandal was only uncovered in 2016 after Mozambique defaulted on these hidden debts, prompting the International Monetary Fund and international donors to halt funding and plunging the country into an economic crisis. Until 2016, Mozambique had been one of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies for two decades, but the country once hailed as a development success story has been left among the 10 countries with the lowest GDP per capita as a result of the tuna bond scandal.
A 2017 audit by Kroll found that $500 million of loans could not be accounted for and that Privinvest may have over-inflated prices by $713 million. The audit also found that $200 million of the loans were spent on bank fees and commissions.
In 2019, Mozambique launched litigation in London against the banks and Privinvest, alleging that bribes had been paid to secure these sovereign-backed loans.
On the eve of the trial in October 2023, Mozambique reached an out-of-court settlement with Credit Suisse that gave the country a partial release from an unjust debt but came at the cost of leaving key allegations untested and unaccounted for in public court proceedings.
The remaining legal claims were contested in a scaled-back trial that was missing key protagonists including the then President Filipe Nyusi, who enjoyed immunity as a sitting head of state. Even after the trial wrapped up, the court delayed its judgment so that Mozambique and VTB could sign off on a further settlement in June.
In July 2024, the High Court delivered its judgment finding substantially in favour of Mozambique’s remaining claim against Privinvest over its role in the corrupt conspiracy.
The High Court ruled that bribes of at least $7 million were paid to Mozambique’s former finance minister, Manuel Chang, to deliver sovereign guarantees that left the country on the hook for billions in debt. Known as the “master of kickbacks”, Privinvest’s recently deceased owner Iskandar Safa was found to be “the individual ultimately behind each promise and payment” to Chang.
The High Court ruling held that Mozambique is entitled to payment from Privinvest and Safa of just over $825 million and indemnity for an estimated $1.5 billion that the country still owed to banks and bondholders.
In 2019, three investment bankers from Credit Suisse’s London deal team pleaded guilty to their part in the corrupt scheme while former Privinvest executive, Jean Boustani, was acquitted. In 2021, Credit Suisse agreed to pay $547 million in penalties as part of a coordinated global resolution with US, UK and Swiss authorities.
In early 2025, the former Finance Minister was sentenced to 102 months’ imprisonment in the US after being extradited from South Africa following his arrest in 2018.
