The Minister of Economy and Finance revealed on Monday that the state has spent around 80 million dollars since 2019 on lawyers for the trial of the hidden debts case in London.

Max Tonela said during a joint press conference with the Attorney General's Office in Maputo that "since the beginning of the process in February 2019, there have been accumulated costs of around 80 million dollars".

According to Tonela, quoted by Lusa, the Mozambican state currently spends around 3.5 million pounds a month on lawyers.

The source stressed that the out-of-court settlement reached on Sunday with the UBS group over the financing of the purchase of fishing boats by Credit Suisse will allow the costs of the trial for Mozambique to be reduced.

"There are lawyers hired to defend Mozambique's case and one of the aims of the agreement is to mitigate risks, but also to ensure the lowest possible costs, bearing in mind that there is no predictability as to how long the trial process will take and the associated costs," said Max Tonela.

The Mozambican authorities said that British lawyers had been hired to assist the Public Prosecutor's Office because it was "an action taking place in a foreign court".