A former Credit Suisse banker, Surjan Singh, involved in Mozambique's biggest corruption scandal to date, managed to avoid arrest on Wednesday after cooperating with the courts in two trials in Brooklyn, New York, in the United States of America (USA).

Singh is accused of having received bribes of 5.9 million dollars in the fraud and money laundering scheme that damaged the Mozambican state by more than 2.7 billion dollars. The case became known in the country as Hidden Debt, and involved people linked to the State Intelligence and Security Service.

The former Credit Suisse banker could have been sentenced to between three years and eight months and four years and eight months, but US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis cited his assistance to the government investigation as a reason not to impose a prison sentence, reports Bloomberg.

"I have seen Mr. Singh's testimony first-hand," said the judge. "I consider that he was frank, direct, sensible and thoughtful."

Singh was the last of three former Credit Suisse bankers who pleaded guilty to receiving millions of dollars in bribes.

Andrew Pearse, who was Singh's boss and was the government's star witness in both trials, also avoided jail time. A third banker, Detelina Subeva, pleaded guilty but did not testify.