Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi is being sued in London by a firm at the center of a 2-billion loan scandal that plunged the country into a financial crisis.

An Abu Dhabi-based shipbuilder Privinvest, owned by French-Lebanese billionaire Iskandar Safa, signed contracts with Mozambican state companies to supply tuna fishing and maritime security vessels.

The company said in a statement on Thursday, that Privinvest confirms that, on 19 October 2021, President Nyusi was served in Mozambique with Privinvest’s litigation claims in the High Court in London against him. 

The Mozambican government in 2013 and 2014, secured secret loans in order to finance the deal. The country later defaulted on repayments as much of the money disappeared in kickbacks and bribes.

The deals were made before Nyusi was elected president and Privinvest has denied bribery to win the contracts, arguing its payments were political donations that were legal in Mozambique at the time.

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