Manuel Chang: South African government’s lack of decision is “shocking” – Lawyer

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Manuel Chang: South African government’s lack of decision is “shocking” – Lawyer

11:28 CAT | 28 Oct 2020

FILE- Manuel Chang and lawyer in court in Johannesburg, 31 January 2019. [File photo: VOA]

Rudi Krause does not understand the delay of South Africa’s Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, in deciding on the extradition of the former minister

The lawyer for former Mozambican finance minister Manuel Chang told VOA that, almost two years after his client’s arrest in South Africa, he still does not know what his country’s authorities intend to do about the extradition requests submitted by the United States and Mozambique.

Asked about Manuel Chang’s situation, the South African lawyer told the VOA reporter that he was: “In the same position as yourself”.

“It is shocking that the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services has not yet taken a decision on Mr. Chang,” the lawyer said.

Manuel Chang was arrested in South Africa in December 2018 at the request of American authorities wanting to try him for his involvement in the so-called “hidden debts” case, in which the Mozambican state lost about US$2 billion, and in which Chang is suspected of having been bribed.

Payments were said to have been made through American banks in violation of United States law, which led the American justice system to pursue the former minister and his collaborators.

The Mozambican state and Chang himself opposed extradition to the United States and, according to the Public Integrity Centre (CIP), the Maputo government spent more than US$500,000 on lawyers to try to stop Chang’s extradition to the United States.

Last year, after a long legal battle, South Africa’s Kempton Park District Court ruled that Manuel Chang was extraditable, and South Africa’s then Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Michael Masutha, decided on his extradition to Mozambique, days before leaving the government.

After the inauguration of a new executive, the new justice minister Ronald Lamola in July revoked his predecessor’s decision and asked the Johannesburg Supreme Court to review it.

The court returned the case to Minister Lamola for a final decision, which has not yet happened.

Source: VOA Portugues