A four-count indictment was returned on Dec. 19, 2018, by a grand jury in the Eastern District of New York, charging two executives of a shipbuilding company and three former senior Mozambican government officials for their roles in a $2 billion (€1.8 billion) fraud and money laundering scheme that victimized investors from the United States and elsewhere.
The indictment charges shipbuilder Privinvest’s CFO Najib Allam and employee Jean Boustani with conspiring with others to commit one count of wire fraud, one count of securities fraud, and one count of money laundering in connection with $200 million (€178.7 million) in bribe and kickback payments relating to three loans totaling more than $2 billion that were marketed and sold to US investors.
Manuel Chang, the former Mozambican minister of finance, was charged with the same counts. Former Mozambican officials Antonio do Rosario and Teofilo Nhangumele were also charged for participating in the conspiracy.
The indictment charges the men along with three Credit Suisse bankers with engaging in the $200 million (€175.6 million) scheme.
The former bankers -- identified as Andrew Pearse, Surjan Singh and Detelina Subeva -- arranged financing and conspired to enrich themselves while paying bribes to Mozambique officials, authorities said.
The indictment alleges that between approximately 2013 and 2016, the co-conspirators arranged financing for more than $2 billion to be extended, in three loans, to companies owned and controlled by the Mozambican government.
Those companies are Proindicus S.A. (Proindicus), Empresa Moçambicana de Atum, S.A. (EMATUM) and Mozambique Asset Management (MAM).
The proceeds of the loans were intended to fund three maritime projects for which Privinvest was to provide the equipment and services. Specifically, Proindicus was to perform coastal surveillance, EMATUM was to engage in tuna fishing and MAM was to build and maintain shipyards.
