After nearly five years since his arrest at a South African airport, Mozambique’s former finance minister, Manuel Chang, has lost his final court appeal. He now faces extradition to the United States in connection with a massive $2 billion corruption scandal involving loans to Mozambican state-owned companies.
According to U.S. prosecutors, Chang, who served as Mozambique’s finance minister from 2005 to 2015, played a key role in a fraudulent scheme that defrauded American and international investors. The funds, provided by international banks and guaranteed by the Mozambique government, were intended for maritime projects but were allegedly siphoned off through bribes, kickbacks, and other illicit payments.
Chang stands accused of receiving approximately $17 million in bribes as part of the notorious “hidden debts” scandal. He was indicted by the Eastern District Court of New York in 2018.
The more than $2 billion, originally earmarked for naval vessels, shipyard construction and maintenance, and other initiatives to support Mozambique’s fishing industry, never reached its intended purpose, as per the allegations. The revelation of the scandal in 2016 led to a severe financial crisis in Mozambique, with the International Monetary Fund withdrawing its support for the country.
Since his arrest at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport in December 2018, Chang has remained in custody in South Africa. He has pursued multiple legal avenues and appeals in an effort to avoid extradition to the U.S.
However, Chang exhausted his legal options in South Africa after the country’s Constitutional Court rejected his and the Mozambican government’s applications to appeal against a lower court’s ruling ordering his extradition to the U.S.
While Chang and the Mozambican government argued for his extradition to Mozambique, the Constitutional Court rendered its decision on Wednesday, providing the judgment on Thursday. The court stated that the application to appeal the extradition order “must be refused” due to a “lack of reasonable prospects of success.”
A Mozambican civil society group, the Forum de Monitoria do Orcamento (FMO), supported Chang’s extradition to the U.S., contending in court that he was unlikely to receive fair justice in his home country.
In December, several other individuals implicated in the scandal were convicted and sentenced in Mozambique. Among them was Ndambi Guebuza, the son of former Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, who received a 12-year prison sentence for unlawfully acquiring an estimated $33 million from corrupt dealings. Additionally, ten others were found guilty of similar charges and received sentences exceeding 10 years.
As of now, the South African Department of Justice and Chang’s legal representatives have not provided immediate responses regarding the timing of his extradition to the U.S.
In 2021, Credit Suisse, a Swiss bank, reached a settlement agreement with British and American authorities, agreeing to pay a minimum of $475 million to resolve allegations of bribery and kickbacks associated with the bank’s involvement in the scandal.
Image Credit: Flickr / IMF / Stephen Jaffe
