Mozambique ‘tuna bond’ case: Credit Suisse loses bid to block UK trial due in October

Credit Suisse has lost its bid to block the lawsuit filed by the Government of Mozambique against the Swiss bank for its role in the 2 billion dollar scandal known as the “tuna deal”, and will thus be brought to trial in October.
A UK high court judge on Monday (4 July) refused to strike out the case brought by the Mozambican government that alleges that the Swiss bank turned a blind eye to corrupt bankers in decade-old deals that were ostensibly intended to fund a new coastal patrol force and tuna fishing fleet in the African nation. High Court judge, Robin Knowles, said it was not just, proportionate or necessary to strike out the complex case, which encompasses 11 sets of proceedings, three months before a London trial scheduled to start on 2 October. But he warned that “at trial, all alternatives, including to strike out and in whole or in part, remain available.”
The tuna bond or “hidden debt” case has triggered litigation from Maputo to New York, but the London case is due to establish whether one of the world’s poorest countries can revoke a sovereign guarantee on a loan it alleges was corruptly procured, and secure compensation for other alleged wrongdoing. The case dates back to 2013 and three deals between state-owned Mozambican companies and shipbuilder Privinvest — funded in part by loans and bonds from Credit Suisse — that were officially presented as a project designed to develop the fishing industry and for maritime security. But hundreds of millions of dollars went missing and, when the state loan guarantees became public in 2016, donors such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) halted support, triggering a currency collapse and debt crisis.