Mozambique: Groups protest in Pretoria, demanding extradition to US of ex-finance minister – Lusa

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Mozambique: Groups protest in Pretoria, demanding extradition to US of ex-finance minister – Lusa

7:59 CAT | 03 May 2021

Photo: Twitter / @FMO_Moz

Several human rights organisations in Southern Africa on Monday demanded in the South African capital, Pretoria, the extradition to the United States of Mozambique’s former Finance Minister, Manuel Chang, who is being held in South Africa on charges of fraud and corruption.

“The purpose of the demonstration in front of the [Mozambican] embassy was to dissuade the Mozambican state from any negotiations to prevent extradition, or to delay, on the one hand, and, on the other, for an extradition that is not to the United States,” Adriano Nuvunga told Lusa.

The director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), the NGO that currently runs the Mozambican organisation Forum for Budget Monitoring (FMO), organiser of the event, said that, for this purpose, a “long letter” was delivered to one of the secretaries of the Mozambican diplomatic representation, in the absence of the Mozambican ambassador in Pretoria.

“What worries us is this inaction of the South African authorities and in a context where we understand that there may be negotiations taking place between Mozambique and South Africa that result in the current delay and may then result in his extradition to Mozambique instead of going to the United States,” Nuvunga said.

“That is why we came here to South Africa to, in the first place, go to the Mozambican embassy so that the Mozambican state also knows that we are here, and with this demonstration to make this demand, which was followed by a press conference addressed to the South African authorities,” he said.

According to Adriano Nuvunga, FMO sent last year (2020) a letter to the South African Minister of Justice, Ronald Lamola, seeking to know when a decision would be taken on the extradition of the former Mozambican minister, detained in South Africa for over two years.

“The minister did not respond until now so we are here to demand that the decision be made, and that this decision be to extradite Manuel Chang to the United States because we believe this takes precedence over the Mozambican request that came later, which was incomplete and with inadequate information because until then there was no case against Manuel Chang in Mozambique,” he explained.

Asked by Lusa why FMO is defending the extradition of Mozambique’s former finance minister to the US, Adriano Nuvunga stressed: “Because that is the only way justice can be done.

“In the current circumstances, if Manuel Chang is extradited to Mozambique, it is to kill the case because there is no case against Manuel Chang regarding his participation in the signing of the guarantees, Manuel Chang’s case at the moment is related to corruption around the deliverables of the contract with Prinvest,” he stressed.

“In this sense, extraditing Manuel Chang to Mozambique is to deny justice to the Mozambican people who suffer the consequences of the actions taken by this fellow citizen,” Adriano Nuvunga stressed.

The public demonstration for the extradition of Manuel Chang to the United States was organised by FMO, in partnership with the Southern African Human Rights Defenders Network (SAHRDN), the Human Rights Institute of South Africa (HURISA) and the advocacy group Khulumani, as part of a regional initiative of human rights defenders against financial crimes, which demands the accountability of people involved in financial fraud and money laundering in Mozambique.

Contacted by Lusa, Chrispin Phiri, the spokesman for South Africa’s Minister for Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, declined to confirm contact with the Mozambican organisation FMO, adding that “the Mozambican government will be informed of any decision through diplomatic channels.

Former Mozambican Finance Minister Manuel Chang has been detained in South Africa since December 2018 at the request of US justice, and is considered a “key player” in the hidden debts of the Mozambican state contracted between 2013 and 2014, in absentia of parliament, amounting to US$2.2 billion (1.8 million euros at current exchange rates), by signing state guarantees on behalf of the government of former President Armando Guebuza.

FMO E PARCEIROS LUTAM PELA #EXTRADIÇÃO DE #MANUELCHANG PARA OS #EUA pic.twitter.com/B3yFtVrVz8

— FMO (@FMO_Moz) May 3, 2021

Evento público de advocacia pela extradição de Manuel Chang para os EUA

Local:Pretória, África do sul
Data: 03 de Maio de 2021
Horário:12H30 pic.twitter.com/eJ2EBhpNez

— FMO (@FMO_Moz) May 3, 2021