LONDON (Reuters) -Emirati-Lebanese shipbuilder Privinvest has been granted permission to appeal against Mozambique’s victory in a London lawsuit over the decade-old “tuna bond” scandal, its lawyer said on Tuesday.
The southeast African country sued Privinvest and its now late owner Iskandar Safa, alleging they paid bribes to Mozambican officials and Credit Suisse bankers to secure favourable terms on three projects in 2013 and 2014, including one designed to exploit Mozambique’s tuna-rich coastal waters.
London’s High Court ruled last July that Mozambique was entitled to payment of just over $825 million from Safa and companies in the Privinvest group, plus an indemnity in relation to $1.5 billion it is liable to pay lenders and bondholders, less around $420 million already recovered by the country.
In December, the High Court refused to grant Privinvest permission to appeal. But London’s Court of Appeal has now allowed an appeal to go ahead following a direct application, saying it had a real prospect of success.
A date for the appeal has not yet been set.
The Mozambique government could not be immediately reached for comment.
Mozambique’s lawsuit centred on deals struck by state-owned companies with Privinvest for loans and bonds from banks including Credit Suisse for fishing boats and maritime security, projects backed by undisclosed state guarantees.
But hundreds of millions of dollars went missing and, when the government debt came to light in 2016, donors such as the International Monetary Fund temporarily halted support, triggering a currency collapse, defaults and financial turmoil.
Mozambique’s case had also been brought against Credit Suisse, since taken over by UBS, which agreed an 11th-hour settlement with Mozambique in October before reaching a deal with Privinvest during the trial, allowing the lender to draw a line under the scandal.
In January, a former Mozambique finance minister was sentenced to 8-1/2 years in prison after being found guilty of participating of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in the “tuna bonds” case.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
