Switzerland’s federal prosecutor has filed charges against the failed bank Credit Suisse and its new owner, UBS, over the long-running “tuna bonds” loan scandal that crashed Mozambique’s economy nearly a decade ago.
The Swiss attorney general said on Monday that it had brought money-laundering charges against an unnamed employee of Credit Suisse, but was also taking action against the lender and its rival-turned-owner UBS.
The attorney general’s office accused the banks of “organisational deficiencies” that ultimately failed to prevent wrongdoing and meant the suspicious transactions were not reported until 2019, after the US Department of Justice announced it was launching its own criminal proceedings.
The prosecutor added that “in 2016, in particular considerable defects existed in the companies’ risk management, compliance and internal directives systems in connection with combating money laundering.”
UBS took over Credit Suisse as part of an emergency rescue deal brokered by Swiss authorities in 2023. UBS said: “We firmly reject the office of the attorney general’s conclusions and will vigorously defend our position.”
The tuna bonds scandal arose from $2bn (£1.5bn) worth of loans that Credit Suisse arranged for the Republic of Mozambique between 2013 and 2016. The loans were said to be going to government-sponsored investment schemes including maritime security projects and a state tuna fishery, located in the south-east African country’s capital, Maputo.
However, a portion of the funds went unaccounted for, with one of Mozambique’s contractors later found to have secretly arranged “significant kickbacks” worth at least $137m, including $50m for bankers at Credit Suisse, meant to secure more favourable deals on the loans, according to the Financial Conduct Authority.
The scam snowballed and eventually caused the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to suspend its assistance to Mozambique, leading to a crash in the country’s economy.
Credit Suisse had already settled the case with US and UK regulators in 2021, having paid $275m to American watchdogs and £147m to Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority.
UBS also subsequently agreed to settle the case with Mozambique in October 2023, shortly before a trial was due to kick off in London courts. Mozambique had been pursuing $1.5bn in damages over economic losses after the IMF and international donors pulled their financial support.
The Swiss attorney general’s office accused Credit Suisse and its owner of “not taking all the required and reasonable organisational measures in the relevant period in 2016 to prevent the money laundering that was allegedly committed”.
Credit Suisse was sold to UBS in an emergency deal in March 2023, when customers started to pull money from the lender amid a mini-banking crisis that primarily affected US lenders but later spread to Zurich.
Credit Suisse had for years been mired in scandals, but panic over its future grew after its largest shareholder, Saudi National Bank, ruled out any extra funding for the Swiss lender despite the growing turmoil.
The crisis of confidence eventually forced Swiss authorities to offer emergency loans to Credit Suisse, before eventually orchestrating a shotgun takeover by Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS, which bought the lender for a cut price of 3bn Swiss francs. It left UBS handling a raft of legacy scandals from its former rival.
