Africa-Press – Mozambique. Indifferent to the theatrical trial taking place at the BO and the assumption of guilt by Credit Suisse Bank for granting illegal loans to Mozambique, the government has paid two more instalments of Ematum’s unconstitutional debt.
Finance Minister Adriano Maleiane confirmed to @Verdade this Thursday that two more repayments of Ematum’s debt were made through the 2021 State Budget.
“The country is responsible. What it promises, it fulfils. Everything that was done in good faith, we pay. In relation to Ematum, we are paying,” Minister Maleiane said in response to questions.
The payments cover about US$45 million in interest of the debt of US$850 million contracted in 2013 by Ematum with sovereign guarantee, in violation of the Constitution of the Republic and the Budget Law, and which were restructured in May, 2019. In March this year, US$22.5 million were paid, and in September, another US$22.5 million.
It will be remembered that, under the restructuring, the initial Ematum loan was transformed into Commercial External Debt, the government negotiating to pay initially only the interest, and, from 2028, to both pay interest and repay capital.
Calculations by @Verdade estimate that this debt alone – just part of the US$2 billion in idebt illegally contracted by the government – will cost the country US$1.8 billion, to be paid by 2033.
Overall, the government has already repaid US$392 million in interest on loans taken out by companies ProIndicus, Ematum and MAM.
These repayments take place while, in Maputo, the trial of 19 citizens accused of receiving bribes related to these debts proceeds. None of them, however, is responsible for the sovereign guarantees issued in favour of Credit Suisse and VTB.
Paradoxically, a few days ago, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, Credit Suisse “admitted to defrauding U.S. and international investors in the financing of an $850 million loan for a tuna fishing project in Mozambique, and has been assessed more than $547 million in penalties, fines, and disgorgement as part of coordinated resolutions with criminal and civil authorities in the United States and the United Kingdom”.
By
Adérito Cadeira
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