NEW YORK/LONDON--Three former Credit Suisse Group AG bankers were arrested in London on Thursday on U.S. charges of involvement in a fraud involving $2 billion in loans to state-owned companies in Mozambique, U.S. prosecutors and British police said.
Andrew Pearse, 49, Surjan Singh, 44, and Detelina Subeva, 37, were charged in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, with conspiring to violate U.S. anti-bribery law and to commit money laundering and securities fraud. They have been released on bail in London while the United States seeks extradition.
Former Mozambique finance minister Manuel Chang, 63, was arrested in South Africa this week as part of the same case.
A fifth man, Jean Boustani, was arrested on Wednesday at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport and refused bail. Boustani is a Lebanese citizen who worked as lead salesman for Privinvest - an Abu Dhabi-based holding company whose subsidiaries include a ship building firm hired to provide equipment and services to the Mozambican companies, according to the indictment.
Lawyers for Pearse and Subeva declined to comment. Lawyers for Singh and Boustani did not reply to a request for comment. "The indictment alleges that the former employees worked to defeat the bank’s internal controls, acted out of a motive of personal profit, and sought to hide these activities from the bank," Credit Suisse said in a statement, adding that the bank would continue to cooperate with authorities.
According to the indictment, between 2013 and 2016, three Mozambican state-owned companies borrowed more than $2 billion through loans guaranteed by the government and arranged by Credit Suisse and another investment bank, which was not named in the document. According to the indictment, the three state-owned companies were created to undertake maritime projects, but were really "fronts" for Chang, Boustani and the three bankers to enrich themselves.
Prosecutors said at least $200 million was diverted to the defendants and other Mozambican government officials. They said the defendants concealed the misuse of the funds and misled investors in the United States and elsewhere about Mozambique's creditworthiness.
