Mozambique: There’s no request to waive parliamentary immunity of Manuel Chang – Speaker

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Mozambique: There’s no request to waive parliamentary immunity of Manuel Chang – Speaker

3:35 CAT | 15 Jul 2019

Picture: Lusa

The Speaker of Mozambique’s parliament said today that the parliamentary immunity of MP and former finance minister Manuel Chang has not been lifted in the scope of the ‘hidden debts’ case because there is no definitive indictment [‘despacho de pronúncia’]. Lusa reports.

Veronica Macamo pointed out that Manuel Chang still enjoys immunity from any criminal-law procedure as a member of parliament, elected in the lists of the ruling party, the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo), when she responded to a question from MP António Muchanga of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) on the fact that the Speaker had said recently that “the immunity of Deputy Manuel Chang has been relaxed.”

“Manuel Chang’s immunity was not lifted because it was not requested by a judge of the case, nor is there a definitive indictment [‘despacho de pronúncia’] on him,” Macamo said.

Macamo acknowledged that the Standing Commission of the Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique may have committed an error by permitting the Attorney General’s Office to request the extradition of Manuel Chang from South Africa to Mozambique without the immunity of the deputy being lifted, as required by the Constitution of the Republic and the Statute of the Deputy.

ALSO READ: “If Chang comes to Mozambique today, he will be arrested” – Parliamentary Speaker

Manuel Chang is the subject of a request for extradition to both Mozambique and the US for his role in contracting debts secretly endorsed by the previous Mozambican government, in the context of which ten people are detained out of a total of 20 defendants.

The defendants include Ndambi Guebuze, Armando Guebuza’s eldest son, and the former Mozambican finance minister, current still a deputy of the Assembly of the Republic, who is in South Africa awaiting a decision on extradition requests from both the US and Mozambique.

The ‘hidden debts’ case is linked to the guarantees provided by the previous Mozambican government of more than US$2.2 billion (EUR 2 billion) between 2013 and 2014 in favour of public companies in the area of fishing and maritime security .

Mozambican courts and the US courts consider that some of this money may have been used to pay kickbacks to Mozambican and foreign citizens.

Source: Lusa