At the heart of a financial scandal, eight fishing vessels built in Cherbourg sold at auction

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“For sale: 24 fishing vessels, little used. » The announcement could be titled like this, the affair just as soberly summarized.

Au Mozambiquecoastal country in the southeast of the African continent which faces the island of Madagascar, the 24 fishing vessels of the “contract of the century” between Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie (CMN) and Mozambique are sold at auction. Eight of them had been built in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (Manche).

The contract that relaunched the CMNs

A little over ten years ago, the CMN, then led by the Franco-Lebanese billionaire Iskandar Safa, was at the bottom of the wave. The approximately 300 employees of the shipyard oscillate between meager activities and partial or total unemployment. It's been years since a ship was built on the Cherbourg site. Until the saving contract of 2013.

That year, in a twist, Mozambique – a new client – ​​placed an order with the CMN: 24 fishing vessels and six patrol boats. The visit of French and Mozambican presidents François Hollande and Armando Guebuza to the Cherbourg workshops said a lot about the exceptional nature of the contract. Here we go for two years of full-load work. But the euphoria of the announcement gradually gives way to local controversy and global scandal.

Outsourcing in Romania

In Cherbourg, dozens of Romanian and Lithuanian workers are initially expected to meet deadlines. The thirty buildings will ultimately not all be built on site: only eight for fishing will be, as well as the assembly of patrol boats. The others will be subcontracted in Romania. No matter: there is work and know-how.

The first longliners left Cherbourg for Maputo by cargo ship in July 2014, followed by the first trawlers six months later. Launches, demonstrations, deliveries, handling… CMN vessels are the talk of the world. The contract with Mozambique is coming to an end. For the people of Cherbourg, the story of these boats ends there. Eyes are now focused on new purchasing countries, sometimes towards the Gulf countries, sometimes towards other countries on the African continent.

Ships that sank a country

Ten years later, the blue and white fishing fleet is still present in the port of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. With an additional color for these Pimp and these Sardine: that of rust. Because most will ultimately have seen very little at sea, or not served at all.

“This fleet is at the heart of a two-billion-dollar corruption scandal that has scuttled the Mozambican economy and sparked lawsuits on three continents. »

In France, this scandal is better known as the “hidden debt” scandal, in which these fishing boats found themselves involved against their will.

The scandal broke out in 2016. CMN, then owned by Iskandar Safa (until his death in January 2024), was part of his group of shipyards called Privinvest. To finance their Cherbourg fleet, Mozambican public companies had taken out two billion dollars in illegal bank loans from several international banks. With, secretly, the Mozambican state as guarantor.

Problem: Mozambique's Minister of Finance (who was present in Cherbourg in 2013 and who was subsequently found guilty in the United States) hides the debt from his Parliament. The political-financial affair of the “hidden debt” then plunged the country into a very serious economic and social crisis against a backdrop of fraud, money laundering, corruption, armaments and intelligence. $500 million in loans were never recovered. Over the years, Mozambique, the banks concerned and Privinvest passed the buck and clashed before the courts of several continents.

Until liquidation

“For eleven years,” declares the association for the protection of man and the environment Robin des bois, “a succession of suspicions, investigations by the FBI and the International Monetary Fund, imbroglios and political inbreeding have transformed the historic order in financial and industrial disaster. »

In 2023, Mozambique plans to liquidate Ematum, one of the three public companies involved in the “hidden debt” scandal and having placed an order with Privinvest.

“A liquidation commission was specially created to sell the 24 boats. An appeal was launched and we won it in September 2024.”

Since then, the boats have been auctioned online in 15 lots. The 23 meter tuna boat Pelamis-Vto name just one, starts at $138,000 for a base value of $270,000. This one, among the best-off, will have fished a little over 3,000 hours. THE Sardine-IIlaunched at $232,000 for a base value of $452,000, sailed 71 hours but never fished.

For Leilosoc, these auctions are a challenge: “We organize larger sales everywhere, mainly in Portugal, and we sometimes sell boats, places David Leal at La Presse de la Manche. But it's not common to have assets like these. It's a very interesting sale, very stimulating for us. »

Verdict on December 4, 2024, end day of the sale. To date, no lots have been auctioned.

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