Leverets Group, the combined barrister and solicitor practice, has secured settlements in London’s Commercial Court for two former Credit Suisse Bankers in Republic of Mozambique v Credit Suisse, Privinvest, VTB Capital and Others – also known as the ‘Tuna Bonds scandal’.
The settlements extricate Mr Surjan Singh and Mr Andrew Pearse from any suggestion that they were involved in, or had knowledge of, the corruption of Mozambican officials in deals struck by State-owned companies with Lebanese shipbuilders, Privinvest, for loans and bonds from banks, including Credit Suisse, backed by State guarantees.
Mr Singh and Mr Pearse have always accepted responsibility for taking kickbacks in return for reducing the fees payable to Credit Suisse by Privinvest, for which they forfeited all the money they received to the US Department of Justice (‘DoJ’) in 2019.
Leverets’ 27-strong multi-disciplinary team, led by Rupert Butler, Steph Davies and Owen Vanstone-Hallam, played a pivotal role in finally bringing to an end this decade-old dispute. The culmination was a High Court Trial which was described by Mr Justice Robin Knowles CBE as a “very high-value and complex interwoven multi-party case”.
This settlement brings to a ends all civil matters against the pair, across multiple jurisdictions, while they await criminal sentencing in the USA.
Leverets represented the ex-bankers throughout criminal proceedings in the US, Mozambique, South Africa, and Lebanon, liaising closely with ‘magic circle’ international law firms, the US Department of Justice, FBI, and Interpol; as well as to a successful outcome in the multi-billion dollar civil claims in London. Leverets is shortlisted for Alternative Legal Service Provider of the Year at the 2023 British Legal Awards,
Rupert Butler, Barrister and Head of Practice, said: “Leverets played a key role in bringing this long running dispute to an end; punching above our weight to hold our own in this clash of legal titans. Securing the settlements represents not only a great outcome for our clients, but also demonstrates our ability to act on a level playing field with big firms in large-scale, high-value, and immensely complex, international litigation”.
