Musings From Abroad

US courts sentence former Mozambican finance minister over “tuna bonds” controversy

Published

1 month ago

August 10, 2024

A former finance minister of Mozambique has been found guilty of federal crimes in the United States due to his involvement in a scam involving $2 billion in loans to three state-owned businesses intended to grow the country’s fishing sector.

After a three-week trial in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, jurors found Manuel Chang guilty of conspiring to commit wire fraud and conspiring to commit money laundering in the “tuna bonds” case.

Reporters were informed outside the courthouse by defendant attorney Adam Ford that Chang intends to appeal the decision.

In exchange for issuing a Mozambique government guarantee for loans to three state firms to expand the African nation’s fishing industry and enhance marine security, the prosecution claims that shipbuilding company Privinvest paid Chang $7 million in bribery.

To hide his tracks, Chang had other Mozambican officials speak with Privinvest about the payoffs after receiving the money in a Swiss bank account managed by a friend, according to the prosecution.

Investors lost millions of dollars when the projects finally failed and the state-backed businesses stopped making loan payments.

A currency crash and financial chaos were caused by the temporary suspension of financing by donors like the International Monetary Fund.

“Today’s verdict is an inspiring victory for justice and the people of Mozambique,” Breon Peace, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn said in a statement.
Peace called Chang “a corrupt, high-ranking government official whose greed and self-interest sold out one of the poorest countries in the world.”

Ford contended that there was no proof the $7 million was meant for Chang and that his client only approved the Mozambican government guarantee because the president of the nation asked him to.

“That money never went to Minister Chang,” Ford said in his closing argument on Monday.

At a 2019 Brooklyn trial, Privinvest salesman Jean Boustani, a co-defendant, was found not guilty when he testified that he was not involved in packaging the loans for investors.
From 2013 to 2016, authorities and bankers allegedly embezzled $200 million of the $2 billion in funding raised for the projects, according to the prosecution.

To settle related bribery and fraud accusations, Britain and the United States received a $475 million payment from Credit Suisse, which was later bought by rival Swiss bank UBS, in 2021.

On July 29, Mozambique prevailed in the majority of its $3.1 billion lawsuit against Emirati-Lebanese Privinvest at London’s High Court. Privinvest was accused of bribing Mozambican authorities and Credit Suisse bankers to obtain favourable conditions.

According to a Privinvest representative, the corporation will file an appeal against the court’s decision that it gave Chang bribes and believes that paying hundreds of millions of dollars in damages would be unjust.

Related Topics:Featured Mozambique Tuna Bond

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Musings From Abroad

Blinken to address Gaza ceasefire and bilateral relations in Egypt

Published

17 hours ago

September 18, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Concerned about rising tensions in the Middle East, United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is scheduled to visit Cairo on Wednesday.

During his visit, he intends to further efforts to establish a truce in Gaza and fortify relations with Egypt, according to his spokesperson. The visit by the senior US diplomat occurs at a time when the area is still on high alert because of the possibility that the Gaza War could spread, especially after Hezbollah, a militant organisation, threatened to avenge Israel after accusing it of detonating pagers around Lebanon on Tuesday.

Regarding the explosions, Israel has not answered enquiries. Nearly 3,000 people were injured, and at least nine people lost their lives.

At a routine briefing, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller stated that while it was too soon to determine how the events in Lebanon might impact the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, diplomacy was thought to be the most effective means of easing tensions.

Before meeting with Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and other officials on Wednesday morning, Blinken met with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt at Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo.

How we achieve a plan that we think would get support from both parties” to an Israel-Hamas truce was “squarely on the table” in Blinken’s conversations with Egyptian officials, Miller added.

For weeks, American authorities have stated that a fresh plan for a settlement that would see the release of hostages that Hamas had kidnapped from Israel on October 7, 2023, would be made available soon.

“There are some issues that we need to engage with the government of Egypt on as it relates to this ceasefire proposal that we are trying to bring to fruition,” Miller said.
According to a State Department official, Blinken will travel from Cairo to Paris on Thursday to meet with the foreign ministers of France, Italy, and Britain. During the meeting, they will talk about the Middle East, Ukraine, and other topics. According to the official, Blinken will also meet French President Emmanuel Macron.

This is the first time Blinken has skipped a stop in Washington’s closest regional ally, Israel since the Palestinian militant group Hamas started the Gaza War almost a year ago. Blinken will not be visiting Israel during this trip.

Miller explained that this was because Washington’s goal for this trip was to talk to Egypt about bilateral matters, and the proposal for a Gaza truce that the United States and its mediators have been working on was still not ready to be presented to Israel.

“So it would be premature to be presenting such a proposal, or doing any other diplomatic engagements,” he added.

In the crucial diplomatic effort to end the war, Egypt and Qatar have acted as a go-between for Hamas and Israel’s proposals and counterproposals. In an attempt to improve the flow of humanitarian supplies to Gaza’s 2.3 million war-torn citizens, Washington has also relied on Cairo.

In the raid on Israel last year, Palestinian militants claimed 1,200 lives and captured over 250 prisoners, according to Israeli accounts. Gaza claims that over 41,000 people have died as a result of Israel’s retaliatory attack, which has essentially destroyed the territory.

Washington has sent billions of dollars into military aid to Egypt over their decades-long cooperation, even in the face of allegations of serious abuses, including torture and enforced disappearances, under Sisi’s regime. The Egyptian government refutes the charges.

Last week, Blinken lifted human rights requirements on U.S. foreign military assistance to Egypt, allowing the entire $1.3 billion for the first time since President Joe Biden took office, signalling Cairo’s growing prominence.

After promising to prioritise human rights in U.S.-Egypt relations, Seth Binder, director of advocacy for the Middle East Democracy Centre in Washington, stated that the Biden administration has “completely abandoned any pretence that human rights matter to the relationship.”

Musings From Abroad

3 Americans sentenced to death in DR Congo for thwarted coup

Published

4 days ago

September 15, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A military court has sentenced 37 accused persons to death for their roles in the failed coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May, including three US nationals.

On May 19, armed men took over the presidential residence in Kinshasa for a short while until security forces assassinated their leader, Christian Malanga, a politician from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who was living in the US.

Marcel Malanga, his son, and Tyler Thompson, a friend of Marcel’s who played football with him in high school in Utah, were two of the Americans on trial. They’re both in their 20s.

Christian Malanga’s business associate Benjamin Zalman-Polun was the third American.
All three received the death penalty in a decision that was read aloud on television after being convicted guilty of terrorism, criminal conspiracy, and other offences.

Malanga had already informed the court that his father had threatened to murder him if he didn’t take part. In addition, he informed the court that he was going to Congo for the first time at his father’s invitation—a relationship he had not had in a long time.

After the failed coup, some fifty individuals, including citizens of the US, UK, Canada, Belgium, and the Congo, are awaiting prosecution. Thirty-seven offenders received death sentences.

The decision was announced in the courtyard of the military jail Ndolo, which is located outside of Kinshasa, beneath a tent. The defendants, dressed in prison-issue blue and yellow tops, were seated in front of the judge.

July marked the start of the trial. Ambassador personnel were present at the proceedings, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller in Washington, and they will keep a careful eye on any further developments.

“We understand that the legal process in the DRC allows for defendants to appeal the court’s decision,” he told a briefing.

Jean-Jacques Wondo, a citizen of Belgium and Congo, is one of the 37 defendants. Before the trial, Wondo’s family made video messages to Congo President Félix Tshisekedi pleading for his release.