Judge rules in favour of Mozambique in tuna bond case

Mozambique today ‘substantially’ won its $3.1bn (R57bn) lawsuit at London's High Court against Emirati-Lebanese shipbuilder Privinvest for allegedly paying bribes in relation to the decade-old ‘tuna bond’ scandal, according to a Reuters report on the TimesLIVE site. The country sued Privinvest and its now late owner Iskandar Safa, alleging they paid bribes to Mozambican officials and Credit Suisse bankers. Mozambique said more than $136m (R2.5bn) was paid to secure favourable terms on three projects in 2013 and 2014, including one designed to exploit the country's tuna-rich coastal waters. Privinvest and Safa, however, denied wrongdoing and said any payments were lawful. Their lawyers argued the case was a politically-motivated attack to deflect blame from Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi and other senior officials. Judge Robin Knowles said today he had ruled ‘substantially in favour’ of Mozambique.