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 tmh711 rated 20 months ago - Vulture Funds - Say it ain't so!February 14, 2007 - On Thursday 15 February a high court judge in London will rule whether a vulture fund can extract more than $40m from Zambia for a debt which it bought for less than $4m.There are concerns that such funds are wiping out the benefits which inte...
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3 Reviews
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- kaolelo rated 17 months ago
- On Thursday 15 February a high court judge in London will rule whether a vulture fund can extract more than $40m from Zambia for a debt which it bought for less than $4m.
There are concerns that such funds are wiping out the benefits which international debt relief was supposed to bring to poor countries.
Martin Kalunga-Banda, Zambian presidential adviser and a consultant to Oxfam told Newsnight, "That $40m is equal to the value of all the debt relief we received last year."
Vulture funds - as defined by the International Monetary Fund and Gordon Brown amongst others - are companies which buy up the debt of poor nations cheaply when it is about to be written off and then sue for the full value of the debt plus interest - which might be ten times what they paid for it.
Mockery
Caroline Pearce from the Jubilee Debt campaign told Newsnight it makes a mockery of all the work done by governments to write off the debts of the poorest.
"Profiteering doesn't get any more cynical than this. Zambia has been planning to spend the money released from debt cancellation on much-needed nurses, teachers and infrastructure: this is what debt cancellation is intended for not to line the pockets of businessmen based in rich countries."
more on vulture funds
- tmh711 rated 20 months ago
- Vulture Funds - Say it ain't so!February 14, 2007 - On Thursday 15 February a high court judge in London will rule whether a vulture fund can extract more than $40m from Zambia for a debt which it bought for less than $4m.There are concerns that such funds are wiping out the benefits which international debt relief was supposed to bring to poor countries.Martin Kalunga-Banda, Zambian presidential adviser and a consultant to Oxfam told Newsnight, "That $40m is equal to the value of all the debt relief we received last year."Vulture funds - as defined by the International Monetary Fund and Gordon Brown amongst others - are companies which buy up the debt of poor nations cheaply when it is about to be written off and then sue for the full value of the debt plus interest - which might be ten times what they paid for it.And on February 15th, the headline was ...... ((drumroll)) ... "Vulture Fund" Company Wins $20 Million Payment from Zambia on $4 Million Debt." Yet another scheme for the rich off the backs of the poor. Pretty disgusting. I just have to shake my head in wonder of it all. Obviously, there is much to this story which I am not going to blog, but the very thought of it .... (sigh).We've heard of the "Enlightenment" period in history? I suggest that the Enlightenment has yet to occur ... and may never. Mercy.
- deide rated 20 months ago
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The London case is just one of many which are running around the world.
Newsnight went to New York to try to interview Paul Singer - the reclusive billionaire who virtually invented vulture funds.
The vulture funds raise most of their money through legal actions in US courts. Those actions against foreign governments can be stayed by the word of the US President and that is where lobbying and political influence becomes important.
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