Credit Suisse settles dispute with shipbuilder over decade-old Mozambique "tuna bond" scandal

Credit Suisse has reportedly settled an ongoing legal dispute with shipbuilder Privinvest, closing another chapter of the decade-old Mozambique “tuna bond” scandal.

Lebanon and U.A.E.-based shipbuilder Privinvest was one of the entities involved in the massive tuna bond scandal that anti-corruption experts called “the most egregious corruption offense of the decade.” Credit Suisse was forced to pay penalties of over USD 500 million (EUR 467 million) for its role in conspiring to commit fraud in a Mozambique tuna-fishing project that would have seen Privinvest build infrastructure for the state-owned project.

Now, Credit Suisse has settled the lawsuit between it and Privinvest, Reuters reported. The two companies said in a statement on Monday night that they “reached a global settlement of all present and future disputes between them concerning disputed state-guaranteed financing transactions in Mozambique.”

The settlement is the second in just over a month after Credit Suisse reached a settlement with Mozambique in early October, in a deal that saw Credit Suisse’s new owner – UBS – forgiving part of a loan of less than USD 100 million (EUR 93 million) that Credit Suisse made to Mozambique in 2013.

While Privinvest has settled its dispute with Credit Suisse for an undisclosed amount, its dispute with Mozambique in London courts is ongoing. Mozambique is suing the company for USD 3.1 billion (EUR 2.9 billion), claiming the company paid bribes to both the country’s officials and to Credit Suisse bankers in a bid to exploit the country’s tuna-rich waters.

Privinvest, meanwhile, has been fighting to bring Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi back into the ongoing case. A recent London High Court decision found that Nyusi cannot be sued over allegations he accepted bribes during the scandal, on the grounds he is immune from any jurisdiction of the court due to being a head of state of the republic of Mozambique. Privinvest secured permission to appeal that decision, and argues Nyusi should contribute to any damages involved in the case.

So far, at least 19 Mozambique officials, including Nyusi’s son, have been arraigned for their involvement in the scandal, and in July 2023, Mozambique's former financial minister, Manuel Chang, was extradited from South Africa to the U.S. to face trial over the scandal, the Associated Press reported. Chang was finance minister of the country from 2005 to 2015 and allegedly played a major role in the corruption scandal. His extradition ended a five-year legal battle during which Chang attempted to instead be extradited to Mozambique.   

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