The major bank UBS can tick off another prominent legal case. In the so-called tuna bond scandal, the African state of Mozambique has filed a billion-dollar lawsuit against CS. Now the new owner of CS, UBS, has reached an out-of-court agreement with Mozambique.
The Republic of Mozambique and Credit Suisse have settled the legal proceedings amicably, according to a short UBS press release. “The parties have released each other from all liabilities and claims relating to these transactions and are pleased with the resolution of this long-standing dispute, which dates back to events a decade ago,” it said.
In 2013, Credit Suisse used bonds to provide state-owned companies in Mozambique with money to purchase materials to protect the island nation’s coasts and boats for tuna fishing. According to the investigating authorities, massive corruption occurred. Among other things, Credit Suisse bankers have admitted to accepting bribes to soften loan conditions. The state of Mozambique suffered great financial damage, also because the International Monetary Fund withdrew support from Mozambique due to the incidents.
$100 million in debt relief
With today’s agreement, UBS can deal with one of the major legacy issues that it took on with the purchase of Credit Suisse in the spring. The Wall Street Journal has assumed in recent days that UBS Mozambique would have to write off almost $100 million in debt. The big bank neither wanted to confirm nor deny this amount to Radio SRF today.
The planned trial in this extremely complex case will still begin on Tuesday at the London High Court. However, Credit Suisse will no longer be the focus.