This Friday, a British judge warned that President Filipe Nyusi of the Republic of Mozambique must prepare for a “hidden debts” trial in October in London, despite the application of immunity.
In a Commercial Court hearing this Friday, Judge Robin Knowles acknowledged that “now is not the time to decide what happens if the result [discussão sobre a] immunity one way or another,” he admitted.
However, he stressed, “everyone, including President Newsy, must assume that they are at risk that this process will take place and be involved in it, or its consequences.”
The magistrate’s words pointed to the closeness between a three-day hearing to discuss the alleged immunity of the Mozambican head of state, scheduled for early August, and the start of the trial on October 3.
The lawyer who represented Nucy in court, Rodney Dixon, agreed that the issue of immunity was critical and should be discussed “as soon as possible.”
Filipe Nyusi has been named in a trial in British justice by the naval group Privinvest and its owner Iskandar Safa as they understand he must be prosecuted if allegations of corruption against Privinvest are proven.
A British court authorized President Newsy’s notice in May 2021, but this was not officially confirmed until April of this year, and this Friday he was formally presented in court for the first time to invoke diplomatic immunity.
The Lebanese Naval Group wants Newsi to explain her involvement in the purchase of boats and equipment for fishing and maritime defense in Mozambique through the state-owned companies Proindicus, Ematum and MAM.
Filipe Nyusi was Minister of Defense when the contracts with Privinvest were signed, and between 2013 and 2014, about $2.2 billion in loans were taken from Credit Suisse and VTB.
The loans were secretly approved by the government of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) when Armando Guebuza was still head of state, without the knowledge of Parliament and the Administrative Court.
The case, uncovered in 2016, became known as “hidden debts” and led to the suspension of international support, including from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which only recently resumed financial assistance to the country.
In 2019, Mozambique’s Attorney General’s Office launched legal action in the United Kingdom to try to cancel a US$622 million debt owed by state-owned ProIndicus to Credit Suisse, alleging that the contracts were awarded as a result of corruption.
However, new lawsuits have been added to the case related to the suspension of debt payments by Mozambique, which will be considered jointly between October and December 2023.
In addition to Nyusi, several high-ranking civil servants and statesmen were named in the London trial, such as Guebuza and former finance minister Manuel Chang.
In the Maputo trial of the same case, which ended in December, 11 of the 19 defendants were sentenced to between 10 and 12 years in prison.
Three of them, Ndambi Guebuza, son of former President Armando Guebuza, and two former SISE leaders, Gregorio Leão and António Carlos do Rosario, were also ordered to pay US$2.8 billion in compensation to the state.
Chief Justice Efigenio Baptista refused to hear Nuci in this case.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.