Mozambique's $3.1 bln lawsuit against shipbuilder politically motivated, UK court told | Reuters

Mozambique's $3.1 bln lawsuit against shipbuilder politically motivated, UK court told | Reuters

Mozambique's $3.1 billion lawsuit against Emirati-Lebanese shipbuilder Privinvest is a politically motivated attack to deflect blame for the failure of economic projects, the company's lawyers told London's High Court on Thursday.

Mozambique is suing Privinvest and its owner Iskandar Safa over the fallout from the decade-old "tuna bond" scandal, which devastated the economy of one of the world's poorest countries.

Mozambique alleges Privinvest and Safa paid bribes on an "industrial scale" in relation to three projects in 2013 and 2014, including one to exploit its tuna-rich coastal waters.

Its lawyers said in court filings that Privinvest chose the assets and services to be provided for the three projects simply to justify the level of lending to be provided, "not based on any genuine need for those services".