An African watchdog urged the Swiss bank to cancel roughly ten times the debt for Mozambique that it has until now been willing to do so.
Budget Monitoring Forum, a Mozambique public finances watchdog, is asking Credit Suisse to cancel $2 billion of the African nation's debt following a fourfold regulatory sanction earlier this week, «Reuters» reported late on Thursday. The Zurich-based bank's offer currently stands at $200 million.
Credit Suisse arranged syndicated loans for Mozambique between 2013 and 2016 which were intended for military infrastructure and a tuna-fishing fleet. Hundreds of millions were ultimately partly diverted elsewhere, as Mozambique teetered towards default in 2018.
Mozambique Mess
The coastal African nation itself and Credit Suisse are suing each other in Britain. The issue is complicated by guilty pleas from three ex-investment bankers at Credit Suisse.
Separately, investors in the Credit Suisse bonds are taking the bank to court as well, which has been scheduled for September 2023. A Swiss non-governmental organization in 2019 lodged a criminal complaint in Switzerland against the Swiss bank.
