Over the past several years, Mozambique has
been rocked by a major scandal that has contributed to the resignations of
several of the nation’s government officials, the country defaulting on its
Euro bonds and a financial restructuring process in an attempt to curb inflation
and resolve issues with its currency.
At the heart of this scandal were three
stalled maritime projects – a fleet of vessels intended to be used for
coastal surveillance, a shipyard and a fleet of ships designed to be used for
tuna fishing. These three projects, called EMATUM, MAM and Proindicus, cost
upwards of $2 billion and were built by Privinvest, a
global shipbuilder.
Though Privinvest denied any wrongdoing, company
executive Jean Boustani, a Lebanese national, ended up in United States
government crosshairs. He was arrested in January on charges of money
laundering and conspiracy to commit fraud. On December 2, Boustani was
acquitted of all charges in a federal courtroom in Brooklyn, N.Y., confirming
the company’s
assertion that “there was absolutely no wrongdoing” concerning Privinvest’s
work in Mozambique and no investor fraud of any kind.
Given that these projects involved businesses
in Abu Dhabi and Mozambique, as well as Switzerland-based Credit Suisse, the
United States attempted to pursue this case on a technicality: that money had
been moved through bank accounts located in Brooklyn, giving the federal
government jurisdiction to prosecute in the Eastern District of New York.
A twelve-person jury in Brooklyn saw things differently. After being shown thousands of documents pertaining to the case, including emails, text messages and financial reports, all of which supposedly proved wrongdoing, jurors instead saw Boustani’s legitimate pursuit of major development projects in Mozambique – not a case of massive fraud.
Furthermore – and most crucially to the case –
jurors did not accept the technicality upon which the prosecution built its
case, leading it to all but collapse. None of the alleged crimes for which
Boustani had been charged took place in the United States, nor does Boustani
have any connections, be they personal or financial, to the United States in
any capacity. Boustani’s attorney, Michael Schacter, made this abundantly clear
in his opening statement, when he declared “The United States is not the
world’s policeman.”
With the jury convinced that the federal
government had no right to pursue Boustani, he was cleared
of all charges and released, bringing an end to his 11 months in prison.
Boustani and his attorneys were deeply appreciative of and relieved by the
verdict, and thanked Judge William Kuntz for his dedication, his time, and what
Boustani’s legal team has called a fair and just judgment in the case..
Source: Financial Times – US jury clears Privinvest salesman
in ‘tuna bond’ trial