Former Mozambican finance minister Manuel Chang was handed over this Wednesday morning to US police agents in Johannesburg and extradited by private jet to the United States of America (USA), a South African government source told Lusa.
“The Department of Justice can confirm that Mr. Manuel Chang has been handed over to law enforcement in the United States of America, where he is expected to stand trial on a range of issues, including fraud,” Luce said. Crispin Phiri, spokesman for the Minister of Justice of South Africa.
“Mr. Chang left the country this morning,” he said.
A spokesman for the South African minister explained to Lusa that Manuel Chang was handed over to US authorities at Lanseria International Airport on the outskirts of Johannesburg, from where he left the country around 10:30 local time (9:30 am Lisbon). ).
The former leader of Mozambique was flown on a US government private jet by agents of the FBI, the police arm of the US Department of Justice, who flew to South Africa last Saturday to carry out the extradition process.
Asked by Lusa about the delay in the extradition of the former finance minister of Mozambique, scheduled by the South African authorities for last Monday, Crispin Firi said that the delay is due to issues of a “bureaucratic nature.”
“There were some administrative issues that needed to be cleared up and we are pleased that they were quickly cleared up between us and the US authorities to allow the extradition process to proceed,” he told Luce.
Manuel Chang, who was Mozambique’s finance minister between 2005 and 2015, will face US justice in a New York court for his alleged involvement in the Mozambican government’s $2.7 billion hidden debt scandal ($2.5 billion). Euro). ), after almost five years in prison on the outskirts of Johannesburg.
Asked by Lusa whether Manuel Chang’s extradition to the United States was a victory for justice in South Africa, South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola’s spokesman felt it was not a “private” matter for Pretoria. , a former ally of the government of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), in power since 1975 in the neighboring Portuguese-speaking country.
“We don’t have personal feelings about this, the important thing is that we have exhausted our legal obligations, and it is really important that justice is done no matter where we believe, which is really, as far as we are concerned, we are really committed to it. “We have joined the extradition process and the courts have made the final decision, and we respect the rule of law and the decisions of our courts,” Crispin Firi said in an interview with Luce.
In November 2021, the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg overturned Justice Minister Ronald Lamola’s decision to extradite Chang to Mozambique after two attempts invalidated in May 2019 by his predecessor Michael Massuta and in August 2021 in Maputo. .
On May 24, 2023, the South African Constitutional Court for the second time in 12 months rejected the latest complaint by the Attorney General of Mozambique (PGR) against the extradition of former Minister Manuel Chang to the United States.
US authorities allege that the former ruler colluded with Credit Suisse bankers and international promoters to take over the country for maritime projects, such as buying a fleet to fight maritime piracy, that never came to fruition.
Manuel Chang, 63, was arrested on 29 December 2018 at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on his way to Dubai on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by the United States on 27 December.
Over the past nearly five years, the former Mozambican leader, who is seen as “key” in the hidden debt scandal, has faced two competing requests in South Africa from the US and Mozambique to extradite him out of the country without trial.
Chang was the finance minister of Mozambique during Armando Guebuza’s government between 2005 and 2010, and is said to have guaranteed US$2.7 billion (€2.5 billion) in debts secretly negotiated in favor of Ematum, Proindicus and MAM, a public company cited in a US indictment allegedly set up for this purpose in the maritime security and fisheries sectors, between 2013 and 2014.
The loan was arranged by Russian banks Credit Suisse and VTB.
The loans were secretly approved by the Frelimo government, led at the time by the President of the Republic, Armando Guebuza, without the knowledge of Parliament and the Administrative Court.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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