Quantum Global Says Swiss Probe Over Angola Fraud Closed

(Bloomberg) -- Swiss prosecutors ended an investigation that had involved Jean-Claude Bastos and his company Quantum Global Group after Angolan prosecutors dropped a similar case earlier this year.

The Swiss case against “persons unknown” was closed around June 27, Quantum said in a statement Thursday. The Swiss Attorney General's Office confirmed it closed its probe at the end of June after receiving word that Angolan prosecutors had dropped their charges in March.

The closing of the Swiss case follows the decision 11 months ago by a U.K. judge to overturn a freezing order of assets managed by Quantum for Angola's sovereign wealth fund. The Fundo Soberano de Angola had sued Quantum as Angolan President Joao Lourenco sought to recoup what he says were billions in state assets misappropriated before he took office in 2017.

Bastos, a former business associate of the son of Angola's former president Jose Eduardo Dos Santos had asked the U.K. court to lift the $3 billion freezing order last July, and secured a reversal of the freeze a week later.

“With the termination of all investigations, Jean-Claude Bastos has taken a further step towards his complete rehabilitation against the false and unsubstantiated allegations made against him and the Quantum Global Group,” the company said in a statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hugo Miller in Geneva at hugomiller@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Jan Dahinten

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