The Court of Appeal of England and Wales has accepted an appeal regarding the immunity granted to Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi in the “Hidden Debts” case before the British justice system.
In a ruling on Friday, Judge Elizabeth Laing accepted an appeal against the High Court ruling [High Court] of London on September 4, granting the head of state diplomatic immunity from ongoing legal proceedings.
The decision comes days before the start of the trial, which is expected to last 12 weeks, at the London Commercial Court on Monday.
“Whether or not the trial should be postponed should therefore depend on whether a party requests it and, of course, on the judge’s considered opinion as to whether such a postponement should be granted. This question is for him” , the judge said in his ruling. consulted by Agência Lusa.
Privinvest claims that the Mozambican president was directly involved in the case of Mozambique’s debts, which the country wants to have canceled by the British justice system.
According to the Lebanese group, Nyusi had direct contact with Privinvest representatives, was directly involved (when he was Defense Minister) in the preparation of the projects in question and asked Privinvest for contributions to his and Frelimo’s election campaign.
Privinvest argues that if the Commercial Court rules that Privinvest has made unlawful payments to Mozambican officials, the contributions to the Mozambican president have also been unlawful and the president is liable.
On Monday, the trial will begin in the Commercial Court, part of the High Court of London (equivalent to the Supreme Court in Portugal) of the case brought by the PGR of Mozambique against the Credit Suisse bank, three former employees and several companies from the Privinvest group.
The Mozambican Republic claims that the guarantees given for bank loans for the purchase of maritime security vessels, tuna fishing boats and other equipment should not be considered valid because they were obtained through the corruption of high-ranking state officials.
The loans were secretly approved by then Finance Minister Manuel Chang when Armando Guebuza was still head of state, without the knowledge of parliament.
The case, discovered in 2016 and known as ‘hidden debts’, involves contracts and loans of more than two billion dollars (1.9 billion euros) from the banks Credit Suisse and VTB between 2013 and 2014.
The scandal led to the suspension of international aid, including from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which only resumed financial aid to the country years later.
Mozambique wants to cancel debts worth millions of dollars to Credit Suisse, which has now been bought by UBS, and receive financial compensation for the macro-financial damage caused.
Suspects in the case include former President of the Republic Armando Guebuza, his eldest son Armando Ndambi Guebuza, former Mozambican Finance Minister Manuel Chang and former Director of the State Information and Security Services (SISE) Gregório Leão. .
Several reports this week said negotiations are underway on an out-of-court deal that would see Mozambique drop its case against Credit Suisse, which could lead to a waiver of around $100 million (95 million euros).
Source: DN
