Reacting to reports that the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has dropped its criminal investigation into Credit Suisse’s loans to Mozambique, Tim Jones, policy officer at the Jubilee Debt Campaign said:
“It is deeply disappointing that the FCA has dropped its criminal investigation into Credit Suisse over its loans to Mozambique. Hundreds of millions of dollars have gone missing, and the loans were given in secret and were not agreed by the Mozambique parliament, breaking the law in the southern African nation. If no law was broken in the UK, that only shows the law needs to be changed. Loans given using English law or by UK companies to governments must be publicly disclosed and made to abide by the law of the country concerned.”
Last week the Mozambique government agreed a debt restructuring deal with holders of one of the three debts which campaigners in Mozambique say were contracted illegally. Jubilee Debt Campaign has calculated that the deal will mean $1.7 billion to $2.2 billion being repaid on an original loan of $760 million, with some speculators set to make up to 270% profit from the odious debts.
