According to information available from US authorities, three former employees of Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse have been arrested over charges of their role in in a $2bn fraud scheme wihch was linked to companies in Mozambique.

While the men were arrested and them released on bail in London, US authorities have sought extradition of the three arrested men.

The forgery was related to granting of loans to state-owned firms in Mozambique.

Authorities had previously arrested two more employees of the bank which included a former finance minister of Mozambique.

The arrest of the three former employees of Credit Suisse was made in London on Thursday.

The names of the three arrested individuals are Andrew Pearse, Surjan Singh, and Detelina Subeva and all have been charged collaborating to a conspiracy which violated the anti-bribery law, money laundering and securities fraud regulations of the US. The case has already seen an indictment which had been issued by a  US District Court in New York.

Fraudulent maritime projects were created by the accused and arrested in the time period of approximately between 2013 and 2016 through a series of financial transactions according to statements of the prosecutors. The accused and arrested former employees of the bank had made use of state-owned companies in Mozambique as faceless frontal companies and managed to raise about $2bn.

According to the court indictment some US nationals were a part of those investors who had been defrauded by the scam.

The court indictment also added that the accused persons had “intentionally diverted portions of the loan proceeds to pay at least $200m in bribes and kickbacks to themselves, Mozambican government officials and others”.

Data from the court papers also shows that more than $700m in loan payments were missed by the state-owned companies that served as the from face companies of the scam after they defaulted in repayment  in 2016 and 2017.

No action had been taken against the bank itself, Credit Suisse made it clear in a statement. The Swiss said that the banks internal controls were essentially defeated by the collaborated efforts of the former employees according to the allegations made in the indictment. The bank further said that the accused former employees also “acted out of a motive of personal profit, and sought to hide these activities from the bank.”

The US has established agreements for extradition of people with more than 100 countries. These treaties can require “the surrender of persons who have committed crimes in foreign countries”.

(Adapted from BBC.com)