we wrote about the role of Credit Suisse in the mega-looting in Mozambique. This week we turn our attention to the complicity of part Russian state-owned bank, VTB Capital.
In 2016, 14 donors and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stopped all lending to Mozambique, plunging the country into an economic crisis. Mozambique’s currency plummeted in value by 70% and its annual GDP growth rate fell from 6.7% to 3.8%. All this stemmed from the country’s “secret tuna-bond” loans. These loans worth $2.2-billion (about R30-billion) were hidden from the IMF, Mozambique’s other lenders and donors, lawmakers and from the Mozambican public. With the help of corrupt, complicit and woefully inept bankers from Credit Suisse and VTB Capital, corrupt Mozambican politicians were able to orchestrate a mega-heist.