Stay informed of free updates
A former credit Suisse banker who received $ 200,000 by a senior colleague who uses money from bribes is forbidden from the British financial services, in the last fall -out of Mozambique’s $ 2 billion “Tuna bonds” scandal.
The Financial Conduct Authority said that Detelina Subeva told officials that she did not know that the money was affected by corruption when it was paid by the colleague, called by American public prosecutors as Andrew Pearse, with whom she was “in an intimate relationship”.
But the FCA said it decided to prohibit her from regulated financial services positions because she saved the money, even though she was told shortly after receiving that it had come out bribes. She was forced to lose the money in 2022 after her arrest in the US three years earlier.
“Mrs Subeva admitted that he received and retained $ 200,000 in illegal bribes,” said Steve Smart, jointly executive director of enforcement and market overview at the FCA. “There is no place in our markets for criminal behavior.”
Subeva was one of the three former Crediet Suisse Bankers who were sued in the US due to their role in one of the largest corruption scandals in Africa. The British regulator said in March that the Pearse, a 55-year-old New Zealander, and Surjan Singh, another former director of Credit Suisse, had exiled after they owe guilty for accepting at least $ 52 million in bribes that they arranged for Mosambique six years ago.
Subeva, a 43-year-old Bulgarian, also argued guilty in a court in New York to commit conspiracy in 2019. American public prosecutors said that Pearse had shared part of the bribes that he received with her. She was subsequently sentenced to time that was already served in custody after assisting authorities in the prosecution of her two fellow samplers.
The FCA had to postpone his announcement of the prohibition of Subeva because it initially challenged the findings of the regulator after being sent his warning message.
Subeva left her job as a vice-president at Credit Suisse shortly after receiving the infected money on an account that she opened in the United Arab Emirates in June 2013.
The FCA said they decided to “continue to work in combination with her fellow samplers in arranging further financing for Mozambique, in circumstances in which she must have been aware of the risk that further corrupt payments could be made”.
The former Crediet Suisse Bankier said it was “unfair” for the FCA to mention “. She could somehow be guilty of the misconduct of others” if “the funds without her knowledge were paid in her account” and later she only heard of their infected origin, according to the regulator.
But the FCA rejected this and said she admitted that she had saved the money after he was told that it came out of bribes, the “lack of ethical compass” of Subeva. She then decided not to challenge the FCA decision in the Upper Tribunal.
The case of the tuna bonds comes from a $ 2 billion deal in 2013 for Mozambique, one of the poorest countries in the world, to borrow from international investors who seem to finance maritime projects, including a tuna fishing, prior to investments in offshore gas.
Auditors later discovered that $ 500 million of the money that was collected by the loans could not be granted and that the companies behind the debts were paid on the opportunities for equipment.
In 2021, the FCA fined Credit Suisse £ 147 million for serious financial crime due to diligence deficiencies compared to the Mozambique bonds, when it also concluded an agreement from the bank to forgive $ 200 million of the outstanding debt.
Controverse about the Mozambique bonds was one of the many high-profile scandals that revealed the reputation of credit Suisse, a weak risk management and contribute to a loss of trust that ultimately led to the takeover of the bank by rival UBS.
Subeva could not be achieved for comment. UBS refused to comment.