The trial of Mozambique's hidden debts case in the London Commercial Court is at risk of being postponed or extended until 2024 due to the delay in releasing procedural documents.

The lawyer representing Mozambique in the legal proceedings initiated by the Attorney General's Office (PGR), Jonathan Adkin, has asked for an extension until January 27, 2023 to comply with the disclosure obligations.

According to the British lawyer, this extension is necessary to gather all the required documents, and the OPG has already provided more than 100,000 elements, he revealed.

The disclosure and sharing of documentary evidence is mandatory and an essential step in British proceedings, as this is when the different parties make documents relevant to the case available to each other so that each can prepare their respective cases.

"We're not as pessimistic as the other parties and we think it's possible to meet the timetable and start the trial in October 2023," he said at a procedural management hearing held last Friday.

However, he suggested to Judge Robin Knowles that "perhaps it would be prudent for the judge to reserve January 2024" to hear part of this trial, instead of finishing in December.

Russian bank VTB, blaming the international sanctions to which it is subject due to the war in Ukraine, and shipping group Privinvest, which cited difficulties created by the banking crisis in Lebanon, also admitted to delays.

However, together with the bank Credit Suisse, which is also a defendant, lawyer Andrew Hunter warned that an extension could have a "chain reaction" on the rest of the stages of the case up to the trial.

In the end, the British judge admitted that this case has been marked by "challenges, some expected, some unforeseen" and decided "with the utmost reserve" to grant the request for an extension until January 27.

"I'm not going to change the date of the trial just yet," said Knowles, referring the matter to other preliminary hearings.

Meanwhile, the magistrate granted a request from the Credit Suisse bank for the PGR to identify which public officials or politicians it contacted to ask for access to the electronic devices and personal email accounts they used for work, and which ones accepted.

According to the decision published last Wednesday, several officials in the Mozambican government or administration used personal means on a regular basis to receive and send official electronic communications.

Credit Suisse presented an initial list of 33 names of individuals in which it is interested, but, according to the PGR, at least one has already died and British lawyer Jonathan Adkins said he intends to challenge the decision.

The British court case was initiated in 2019 by the PGR on behalf of the Republic of Mozambique to try to cancel part of the more than 2.7 billion dollars of debt contracted with international banks between 2013 and 2014.

The loans were endorsed by the government of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), led at the time by Guebuza, without the knowledge of Parliament and the Administrative Court.