Former Mozambican finance minister appears in South African court again today

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Former Mozambican finance minister appears in South African court again today

11:32 CAT | 18 Jan 2019

in file CoM

Former Mozambican finance minister Manuel Chang returns to a Johannesburg court today to be heard on two US and Mozambican extradition requests in the face of his alleged involvement in the country’s “hidden debts”.

On the basis of an international arrest warrant issued on December 27, Manuel Chang was detained in South Africa two days later with US courts seeking his extradition for trial in the United States for conspiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and money laundering, further alleging that he also violated economic and financial legislation.

Manuel Chang will be heard again at the Kempton Park court in Johannesburg after a second extradition request, in this case to Mozambique.

“There was a development last week in which the Mozambican authorities also requested the extradition of Chang, so it will be interesting to see how the South African authorities will react as they have now received two requests for the extradition of Chang from two different states,” Chang’s South African lawyer Rudi Krause told Lusa on Thursday.

Rudi Krause said that the Mozambican government’s extradition request is dated January 10, four days before a working visit to Maputo of the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, where he met with his counterpart, Filipe Nyusi, but the two delegations did not make statements to the press after the four-hour meeting.

On January 9, South African Judge Sagra Subrayen considered the legal detention of Manuel Chang in South Africa and authorised the transfer of the former Mozambican minister to an individual cell the following day before postponing to today the fifth hearing in the case.

Chang’s defence complained of security conditions and revealed that his client had been obliged to pay protection money to the ‘boss’ of his cell, which houses about 20 people, to ensure his safety.

Without detailing the arguments he will present in court today, Rudi Krause said he considered Chang “not a person extraditable to the United States”.

“If he is not extradited to the United States, he will have the right to return to his country of origin. South Africa has no other interest in this matter other than dealing with the request for his extradition presented by the United States and also by Mozambique, and in this circumstance if he is not extradited he will be free to return to Mozambique,” Krause said, adding that a final decision is not expected for today.

“It is a tentative date. Submissions have not been submitted yet, and because there are two competing requests it is highly improbable that a final decision will be reached today.”

Manuel Chang, 63, was detained on 29 December in South Africa while on his way to Dubai, in a lawsuit involving three former Credit Suisse employees, a Privinvest manager, and the loans guaranteed by the Mozambican state without parliamentary scrutiny.

Mozambique’s so-called “hidden debt” of US$2.2 billion (EUR 1,920 million) accounts for half of the country’s total debt cost, though it accounts for less than 20 percent of the total in absolute terms.

A finance minister, Manuel Chang would have been able to guarantee the debts secretly contracted to Ematum, Proindicus and MAM, the public companies referred to in the US indictment, allegedly created for maritime safety and security between 2013 and 2014.

Source: Lusa