The bank Credit Suisse has admitted that much of the money supposedly intended to create a Mozambican tuna fishing fleet was in fact diverted into bribes and kickbacks and has agreed to compensate some of the American investors who purchased bonds in the fraudulent scheme.
The fraud was designed in 2012-2013 by corrupt Credit Suisse managers, by the
It was part of a grandiose scheme involving three fake, security-linked companies - ProIndicus, Ematum (
The three companies obtained loans of over
The largest loan, for
What the investors did not know was that the three Credit Suisse managers who negotiated the Ematum loan (
Privinvest was the sole contractor for the three fraudulent Mozambican companies, and it grossly over-invoiced them for the fishing boats, patrol vessels, radar stations and other assets it provided. An independent audit of Proindicus, Ematum and MAM found that the over-invoicing amounted to more than
This provided Privinvest with more than enough money to pay off the Credit Suisse managers and the Mozambican officials involved in the corrupt deal.
None of the three companies was ever viable. All have gone bankrupt and are now being liquidated. What started life as hidden loans have now become hidden debts, as the creditors demand their money back from the Mozambican state.
A Credit Suisse subsidiary,
At Wednesday's hearing, the prosecutors asked US district judge
This is certainly not the end of the case.
Last October, Credit Suisse entered a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with the
According to Reuters, Court filings listed the proposed payouts to institutional investors, including nearly
A spokesperson for Credit Suisse declined to comment on the case.
Copyright Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com)., source