Mozambican analysts consider that the decision by the British courts to rule on the debt cancellation suit submitted by the Mozambican state creates "hope and great expectations" for Maputo, but the outcome of the court decision remains "uncertain".

It should be remembered that on September 20, the London Commercial Court, part of the High Court in London, refused to suspend the proceedings underway in the British courts on the case of Mozambique's "hidden debts" and wait for a decision from the arbitration in Switzerland, setting the start of the trial for today, October 2.

For Dércio Alfazema, analyst and director of programs at the Institute for Multiparty Democracy (IMD), a Mozambican non-governmental organization (NGO), quoted by Lusa, the British court's decision creates "hope" that the Mozambican state will be able to present its arguments about the hidden debts and the grounds for the request to cancel them.

"At least he will have the opportunity to explain himself to a credible and recognized international court and have the chance to force the debt to be cancelled," said Alfazema.

The analyst, describing the hidden debts case as "complicated" and one that "has been dragging on for a long time", pointed out that the entities against which the Mozambican Attorney General's Office (PGR) filed the lawsuit in London are not interested in the trial and are betting on "their game" of blocking the case.

The position of these entities, continued the analyst, stems from the fact that the clauses for resolving any disputes over debts refer to an arbitration body and not a judicial one.

"But I think that at the moment there is a positive sign and this is also a recognition of the persistence and insistence of our prosecutor's office, which has often not been understood, both internally and externally, since it has also been spending a lot of money on lawyers," emphasized Dércio Alfazema.

For his part, analyst Fernando Lima noted that the ruling by the London Commercial Court opens up "great expectations" for the Mozambican authorities, given that a lower court had rejected the trial.

"The latest decision removes the pessimism that surrounded the PGR's initiative, because we will have the trial that the Mozambican authorities wanted," Lima emphasized.

The action brought by the PGR is against the bank Credit Suisse, three former employees and several companies in the Privinvest group, the shipyard company involved in the hidden debt scandal.

The Mozambican state claims that the guarantees given for bank loans for the purchase of maritime security vessels, tuna fishing boats and other equipment should not be considered valid because they were obtained through the corruption of senior state officials.

The loans were endorsed secretly by the Frelimo government when Armando Guebuza was still head of state, without the knowledge of parliament and the Administrative Court.

Mozambique wants to cancel millions of dollars in debts owed to Credit Suisse and obtain financial compensation for the macro-financial damage caused.