Banco Comercial Portugues (BCP) has taken
legal action against Mozambique, becoming the latest bank to pursue the heavily
indebted East African state, which has been embroiled in a long-running $2
billion debt scandal.A filing dated April 8 shows BCP has begun proceedings in
London’s High Court against both the Mozambique government and state firm
Mozambique Asset Management (MAM) related to “general commercial contracts and
arrangements”. BCP declined to comment, but said it maintains “excellent
institutional relations” with the Mozambique government. The London court
filing does not provide any further information, other than that BCP is being
represented by Enyo Law. Mozambique’s Attorney Generals Office did not
immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
MAM is one of three state-run firms set up as
part of a $2 billion project spanning tuna fishing, shipyard development and
maritime security that U.S. authorities now say was an elaborate front for a
bribery and kickback scheme. BCP contributed $100 million of a $535 million
syndicated loan arranged by Russia’s VTB to MAM as part of the project, VTB
court documents in a separate case which were reviewed by Reuters showed. VTB
and Credit Suisse, both of which are involved in separate court cases demanding
payment from Mozambique, together arranged around $2 billion in lending for the
project in 2013 and 2014, all of which was guaranteed by the government. Mozambique,
which as well as being one of the world’s poorest countries is also one of its
most indebted, has tried to challenge the validity of some of the guarantees
and arrested several people for their alleged roles in the scandal but it
remains on the hook for all of the money. Its economy had been recovering from
the impact of the scandal until the global coronavirus crisis, which is
expected to hit vulnerable nations with high levels of debt hardest. The
country’s external and public debt to GDP ratios already stood at 99% and 118%
at the end of 2019, the World Bank says.
Hundreds of millions of dollars went missing
and the supposed benefits of the project never materialised, while Mozambique’s
government also did not disclose some of the loans. The scandal has sparked
criminal and civil lawsuits spanning three continents. It also prompted donors
including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cut off support when the
loans came to light in 2016, triggering a currency collapse and sovereign debt
default. Debt campaigners say Mozambique should not have to repay any of the
loans, which in two cases were arranged in secret and none of which were
approved by parliament.
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