Mozambique to seek extradition of ex-Credit Suisse bankers involved in $2 billion debt scandal
JOHANNESBURG - Mozambique's Attorney General's Office said on Wednesday it will seek the extradition of three former Credit Suisse CSGN.S bankers implicated in a $2 billion debt scandal that sent the country's economy into crisis.
Andrew Pearse, Detelina Subeva and Surjan Singh, who helped
arrange the loans to Mozambique, all pleaded guilty in the United States last
year to charges including conspiracy to violate U.S. anti-bribery laws and to
commit money laundering and securities fraud in relation to their role in the
affair.
Lawyers for the three bankers did not immediately respond to
requests for comment or could not immediately be reached.
Mozambique would now seek their extradition after the
country’s Supreme Court granted approval for the Attorney General’s Office to
do so, a representative of the AGO told Reuters via WhatsApp.
They said following the approval, the next steps would be to
go through with the extradition request according to procedure, but did not
elaborate on what that meant.
The representative also did not immediately answer further
questions about whether the three bankers had been charged with any crimes in
Mozambique, though a report in state-owned newspaper Noticias said the
government wants the trio to come to the country to face unspecified criminal
charges.
Hundreds of millions of dollars of the loans the bankers
helped arrange went missing. The scandal prompted donors including the
International Monetary Fund to cut off support to Mozambique, triggering a
currency collapse and debt default.
The southeast African nation remains on the hook for the
money. It has charged a number of people in Mozambique with crimes in relation
to the scandal, and is trying to get government guarantees for some of the
loans overturned in court.
Comments
Post a Comment