NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three former
Credit Suisse Group AG bankers were arrested in London on Thursday on U.S.
charges that they took part in a fraud scheme involving $2 billion in loans to
state-owned companies in Mozambique, a spokesman for U.S. prosecutors said.
Andrew Pearse, 49; Surjan Singh,
44; and Detelina Subeva, 37 were charged in an indictment in Brooklyn, New York
federal court with conspiring to violate U.S. anti-bribery law and to commit
money laundering and securities fraud, according to spokesman John Marzulli.
They have been released on bail in London while the United States seeks
extradition.
The arrests came five days after
former Mozambique Finance Minister Manuel Chang was arrested in South Africa as
part of the same criminal case. A fifth man, Jean Boustani, was arrested on
Wednesday at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, Marzulli said. Boustani was a
Lebanese citizen who worked for an Abu Dhabi-based contractor of the Mozambican
companies, according to the indictment. Lawyers for the defendants could not
immediately be reached for comment after business hours in New York and London.
“The indictment alleges that the
former employees worked to defeat the bank’s internal controls, acted out of a
motive of personal profit, and sought to hide these activities from the bank,”
Credit Suisse said in a statement. It added that the bank will continue to
cooperate with authorities. According to
the indictment, between 2013 and 2016 three Mozambican state-owned companies
borrowed more than $2 billion through loans guaranteed by the government and
arranged by Credit Suisse and another investment bank, which was not named.
Chang, 63, signed off on the
guarantees as finance minister, but did not disclose them. When the guarantees
were revealed in 2016, foreign donors including the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) to cut off support for Mozambique, plunging the southern African country
into a debt crisis that still plagues it two years later. According to the indictment, the three
state-owned companies were created to undertake maritime projects, but were
really “fronts” for Chang, Boustani and the three bankers to enrich themselves.
Prosecutors said at least $200 million was diverted to the defendants and other
Mozambican government officials. They said the defendants concealed the misuse
of the funds and misled investors abroad including in the United States about
Mozambique’s creditworthiness. The companies missed more than $700 million in
loan payments after defaulting in 2016 and 2017, the indictment said.
Reporting By
Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler and Diane Craft
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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