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Press Release from Recommon
24 January 2025

ReCommon: «it is very serious that the two public financial institutions do not get out of the TotalEnergies project, over which the heavy shadow of war crimes hovers»

ReCommon considers it very serious that SACE and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), two public financial institutions, are still involved in the controversial Mozambique LNG gas extraction and liquefaction project, as reflected in the government’s response to the urgent interpellation on the issue submitted by MP Angelo Bonelli and signed by 9 other members of the Green and Left Alliance.

The project, led by TotalEnergies was the subject of an investigation published by Politico in which it emerged that, between June and July 2021, a group of soldiers from the Mozambican army – at the time financially and materially supported by TotalEnergies – had committed violence that could be construed as war crimes while defending the Mozambique LNG site. The article highlighted how TotalEnergies may have been aware of these possible war crimes and, according to an investigation published later by Le Monde and Source Material, was also aware of the Mozambique army’s violent conduct towards the civilian population well before the events of June and July 2021, thanks to some documents obtained by ReCommon through a request for access to the records addressed to Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. Construction work of the project was halted due to force majeure in April 2021 and is still inactive.

Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Economy and Finance Fausta Bergamotto confirmed that, as a result of the force majeure invoked by TotalEnergies, «loan disbursements have been suspended» and that «no disbursements have been made in relation to the SACE guaranteed loan and only limited disbursements in relation to other loans».

In recent months, consultations between the French colossus and the financial institutions originally involved in the project – including SACE and CDP – have resumed at a rapid pace, as the multinational company intended to restart construction work on the project. It was, however, only a few days ago that, due to the ongoing armed conflict between insurgents, the Mozambican army and the Rwandan army, the force majeure will be maintained and all project-related operations will slip further. Despite this, the Undersecretary said that the situation on the ground is improving.

A blunder that led SACE and, consequently CDP, to approve «the project application in January 2024» without having carried out further environmental and, above all, social assessments, after those of June 2017. As shown by documents obtained by ReCommon from CDP itself, the two financial institutions were also aware of the violent conduct of the Mozambican army, and despite this, SACE favourably judged the issuance of a loan guarantee for €950 million, including CDP’s €650 million, thus exposing the public coffers to serious risks.

At the end of December, Mozambique’s Attorney General’s office reportedly launched an investigation into the events reported by Politico’s investigation, while 126 Mozambican and international organisations called for an immediate independent international investigation into the violence allegedly committed near the Mozambique LNG project site by the Mozambican army, allegedly acting in the service of TotalEnergies.

Should these investigations establish the reported facts, financial institutions, including SACE and CDP, run the risk of being indirectly associated with the violence committed by the military.

«SACE and CDP, as can be seen from the response given today by the government to the interpellation by GLA and its parliamentarians, have not moved back a step. It is unacceptable that, in light of what has emerged from the investigations by Politico, Le Monde and Source Material, two state bodies do not intend to suspend their financial support, at least pending clarification of the very serious accusations made against TotalEnergies», said Simone Ogno of ReCommon. «SACE in particular now acts in a totally undisturbed manner, with little environmental and social due diligence of its operations. We therefore welcome Mr Bonelli’s proposal to subject the export credit agency to an investigation by the competent parliamentary committee», Ogno concluded.