A scandalous tale

Mozambique’s $2bn scandal with shipping company Privinvest and Credit Suisse

By Olivier Holmey

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Posted on April 20, 2021 09:49

Firefox_Screenshot_2021-04-16T14-45-08.103Z © Armando Guebuza (left) and Filipe Nyusi (right), former and current Mozambican presidents respectively, with Iskandar Safa (centre), CEO of Privinvest. JA editing: CARL COURT/AFP; Andrew TESTA/PANOS-REA; Henry Nicholls/REUTERS
Armando Guebuza (left) and Filipe Nyusi (right), former and current Mozambican presidents respectively, with Iskandar Safa (centre), CEO of Privinvest. JA editing: CARL COURT/AFP; Andrew TESTA/PANOS-REA; Henry Nicholls/REUTERS

For many months, Mozambique has been trying to avoid arbitration regarding its so-called ‘hidden debt’ scandal. But on 11 March, both Geneva and Zurich’s private courts obtained jurisdiction to examine the complaint filed by Mozambique against Privinvest, the shipbuilding company at the heart of the scandal. We accessed the files of the parties on trial, which could potentially implicate many people.

Maputo has battled for many months to avoid the arbitration scenario. In the London Court of Appeal, Mozambique’s lawyer Nathan Pillow pleaded at length for “justice to take place in the open and not behind closed doors.”

Now that Geneva and Zurich’s private courts have gotten hold of the complaint filed by Maputo against Privinvest, the case is expected to be settled outside the courts despite the general public’s interest in this affair. This includes accusations of corruption levelled against the highest levels of the Mozambican government and which has kept the country and its creditors on tenterhooks for six years already.

It has also fuelled allegations of international arbitration, which is considered an alternative form of justice that settles disputes in secret.

Despite this decision, two trials are still pending in London’s High Court.

  • One concerns Mozambique’s charges

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