International arrest warrants

The Attorney General's Office (PGR) of Mozambique has issued international arrest warrants against the three former bankers of Credit Suisse and a representative of the Privinvest shipyard involved in the case of hidden debts, the Notícias newspaper announced today. At the same time, the PGR drafted extradition requests, validated by the Mozambican Supreme Court last Friday - despite having already been sent to the USA on June 3. The objective is to try former bankers Andrew James Pearse, Detelina Subveva and Surjan Singh in Mozambique, as well as Jean Boustani, representative of the shipbuilding company.

In 2019, the United States promoted a judgment on the case of hidden debts because the financial scheme passed through the country and Boustani was cleared. The three former bankers pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money and are awaiting the judge's verdict. The hidden debts are related to loans worth US $ 2.2 billion (about two billion euros) contracted between 2013 and 2014 from the British branches of investment banks Credit Suisse and VTB by Mozambican state-owned companies Proindicus, Ematum and MAM. 

The loans were secretly endorsed by the Government of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo, a party in power since independence), led by Armando Guebuza, without the knowledge of parliament and the Administrative Court. There are 19 defendants (18 of whom are detained) in the main proceedings in Mozambique, including figures from the circle close to the former President, such as one of his sons, Ndambi Guebuza, and his personal secretary, Inês Moaine.

The Mozambican public prosecutor accuses defendants of criminal association, blackmail, passive corruption, embezzlement, abuse of office or function, violation of management rules and falsification of documents, still without a scheduled trial. The four foreigners that the PGR wants in Mozambique are accused in an autonomous process.