Debt campaigners welcomed the court's decision.
State-owned security companies borrowed the money between 2013 and 2014 from London branches of Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse and Russia's VTB. AFP/File/Fabrice COFFRINIMozambique’s constitutional court on Tuesday declared null and void loans worth $1.4 billion that triggered the country’s worst financial crisis when they were revealed, in a ruling welcomed by debt campaigners.
The United States alleged at least $200 million was spent on bribes. Legal cases have since been lodged in the US, Switzerland, Britain, South Africa and Mozambique. “The government acted outside the constitution, violating unequivocally the article that reserves the exclusive right of parliament to authorise to make or grant loans,” the verdict said.It “recognises the law was not properly followed in Mozambique”, said Adriano Nuvunga, coordinator of the Mozambique Budget Monitoring Forum.
“The people of Mozambique had no say over, and no benefit from the loans, and should not have to repay one cent,” she said in an emailed statement.
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