The role of Credit Suisse in a scandal about debt and financing in Mozambique may yet be scrutinized in greater detail. That at least is what the investigators charged with looking into the deals have now demanded.
Mozambique is bankrupt. Donor countries as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stopped their payments last year because the country concealed the level of debt. They also complained about a misuse of loans worth more than $2 billion and the disappearance of some of the money. Credit Suisse (CS), Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, was one of the banks which agreed the loans.
The money was approved for a development project involving the purchase of a tuna-fishing fleet and the protection of the coastline of the African nation, where explorers had detected large-scale gas fields. The program never took off as intended.
Upon request by the international lender community, the attorney general of Mozambique mandated Kroll investigators to look into the affair and to find out about where the money went.
Conditions Weren't Met
In its report published earlier this year, Kroll accused CS of having agreed to the loans despite the fact that several conditions had not been met. The loans had been structured by the Swiss company's investment bank in London and both the Swiss banking regulator Finma and the U.K.’s FCA have already looked into the case.
Three conditions that should have been met in order for the bank to agree the deal was the nod by the Mozambique central bank, an examination by a local judicial authority as well as a report to the IMF.
New Pressure Applied
Meanwhile, Kroll has upped the stake and is putting further pressure on CS. The U.S. company has demanded the general attorney in Maputo to get in touch with the FCA to demand detailed accounts from CS, according to a report by «Allafrica».
Kroll investigators believe that the Swiss bank violated U.K. law because it didn’t make the proper examination before agreeing the deal. The reason being that one of the involved persons was a so-called PEP, a politically exposed person.
Failing to identify the economic beneficiary would possibly mean that CS violated U.K. money-laundering rules.
Missing Dollars
The CS loan went to state-controlled companies Proindicus and Ematum. Both are under the control of Servicio de Informacoes e Seguranca do Estado (Sise), the African country’s intelligence service. The loans had been signed off by Antonio Carlos do Rosario, a director at Sise and as such a PEP, according to Kroll.
Do Rosario and CS have so far resisted presenting further documents in the case. Kroll in its report had concluded that parts of the loans had been used for purposes other than originally intended. Also, some $500 million had disappeared.
