Switzerland has opened a money-laundering trial linked to Mozambique’s so-called “tuna bond” scandal, focusing on a former Credit Suisse compliance officer accused of facilitating the transfer of illicit funds tied to the multi-billion-dollar debt controversy.
The case centres on loans arranged by Credit Suisse that helped push Mozambique into a debt crisis a decade ago, before the bank itself collapsed and was later taken over by UBS in a state-backed rescue in 2023.
Prosecutors allege that the former compliance officer arranged the transfer of more than 600,000 Swiss francs (US$764,000) in funds of criminal origin to Abu Dhabi in 2016, in a move that obstructed efforts to trace or recover the money.
Authorities say the bank failed to file a suspicious activity report with Switzerland’s financial intelligence unit at the time, only doing so in 2019 after the scandal surfaced in U.S. criminal proceedings.
The indictment also points to broader compliance failures within Credit Suisse, arguing that senior executives did not adequately supervise or instruct compliance staff during internal investigations into money-laundering risks linked to the Mozambique transactions. However, prosecutors said responsibility could not be clearly attributed to any single senior executive.
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The case is one of the few remaining criminal proceedings arising from the “tuna bond” scandal, which involved secretive state-backed loans used for maritime and security projects in Mozambique that were later found to be largely undisclosed to the public and international lenders.
The debt arrangements eventually triggered a sovereign default and plunged Mozambique into a financial crisis, prompting international investigations across multiple jurisdictions.
In a related development, Switzerland’s Criminal Court ruled in April that proceedings against UBS could be discontinued, saying Credit Suisse ceased to exist as a legal entity following its 2023 emergency takeover.
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The Swiss finance ministry last year also fined former Credit Suisse compliance chief Lara Warner in connection with the case, a decision she is currently appealing.
The latest trial underscores ongoing efforts by Swiss authorities to hold individuals accountable for compliance failures linked to one of Africa’s most controversial sovereign debt scandals, even as corporate accountability questions remain unresolved following the bank’s collapse.
Mozambique’s “tuna bond” affair has become a landmark case in global finance, raising questions about transparency, sovereign lending practices and the oversight of cross-border banking transactions involving emerging economies.
