AFRICA ( Commonwealth Union) _ Former Mozambique finance minister Manuel Chang, who was arrested in South Africa almost five years ago, has lost his final court appeal and now faces extradition to the United States. The extradition is related to a corruption scandal involving $2 billion in loans to Mozambican state-owned companies.
U.S. prosecutors claim that Chang was involved in a scheme that defrauded American and international investors. The loans were intended for maritime projects but instead vanished through bribes, kickbacks, and illegal payments. Chang allegedly received approximately $17 million in bribes in connection with the “hidden debts” scandal.
The loans, when disclosed in 2016, triggered a financial crisis in Mozambique as the International Monetary Fund withdrew its support. Chang has been held in South African jail since December 2018 when he was arrested at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport while en route to Dubai.
Chang has exhausted his legal options in South Africa as the country’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, denied his and the Mozambican government’s applications to appeal against a lower court’s decision for his extradition to the U.S. Chang and the Mozambican government had argued for his extradition to Mozambique instead.
The Constitutional Court ruled that there were insufficient prospects of success in challenging the extradition order. A Mozambican civil society group, Forum de Monitoria do Orcamento (FMO), supported Chang’s extradition to the U.S., asserting that he would not face fair justice in his home country.
In December, several individuals implicated in the scandal were convicted and sentenced in Mozambique, including Ndambi Guebuza, son of former Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, who received a 12-year prison sentence for illegally accepting around $33 million. Other individuals involved were also found guilty and sentenced to more than 10 years in prison on similar charges.
At the time of writing, there is no immediate information regarding when Chang might be extradited to the U.S. In 2021, Swiss bank Credit Suisse agreed to pay a minimum of $475 million to British and American authorities to settle allegations of bribery and kickbacks associated with its involvement in the loans.
