On Nov 25, 2024, at 3:44 PM, Chas Freeman via Salon <salon@listserve.com> wrote:--The Mozambique tuna fleet is up for sale
Nov 15, 2024 (Bloomberg) –The tuna fishing fleet at the center of a $2 billion corruption scandal, which scuttled Mozambique’s economy and triggered court cases across three continents, is up for auction. The 24 vessels, which have been rusting away for a decade in a port in Maputo, the capital, put the southeast nation on the hook for a $900 million bond that it’s still battling to repay. The economic harm continues to reverberate, increasing social tensions which have spilled into deadly protests in the aftermath of disputed elections last month.The majority of the vessels have never gone fishing and some have operated as few as 10 hours, according to the auctioneer’s website. … If all sold for the base price — the site shows there aren’t any bids yet — the proceeds would be $10.6 million. Mozambique’s finance ministry confirmed the auction without commenting further. … Credit Suisse Group AG bankers helped arrange about $2 billion in debt to finance the fleet and related assets, with US prosecutors alleging $200 million of that went to paying bribes and kickbacks.
Part of Mozambique’s Ematum tuna fishing fleet that led to a debt scandal, May 9, 2019.Photographer: Matthew Hill/Bloomberg
The boats are listed on this auction website.
The son of Mozambique’s former president has been imprisoned for his role, and ex-finance minister Manuel Chang is due for sentencing in a New York court later this month. The judge this week denied Chang’s request for acquittal and a fresh trial. Three former Credit Suisse bankers already pleaded guilty to US charges.The Mozambican state-owned company that in August 2013 signed the $785.4 million supply deal with shipbuilder Abu Dhabi Mar — part of the Privinvest group of companies — was incorporated on the same day. That loan has since been twice restructured, eventually into a $900 million eurobond due 2031. The government of the southeast African nation had denied the existence of the bulk of the $2 billion in debt to the International Monetary Fund as required. When it finally owned up in 2016, the Washington-based lender halted a finance program and donors also suspended funding. Economic growth halved, the currency plunged, inflation soared. Millions of people were pushed into poverty, and Mozambique defaulted on the tuna bond before reaching a restructuring deal with investors in 2019.
Source: gcaptain
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