Only Mozambique has the jurisdiction to try former minister, others involved in ‘hidden debts’ case – attorney general

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Only Mozambique has the jurisdiction to try former minister, others involved in ‘hidden debts’ case – attorney general

12:31 CAT | 21 May 2020

Photo: O País

Attorney General of Mozambique Beatriz Buchili told parliament yesterday that only Mozambique had the jurisdiction to try former finance minister Manuel Chang, detained in South Africa and with extradition to the United States in the so called ‘hidden debts’ case pending.

“The Attorney General’s Office has seen reinforced its understanding that no other country but Mozambique has the jurisdiction to try and hold Manuel Chang and others involved in this case accountable,” said Beatriz Buchili.

Buchili addressed the judicial case on the ‘hidden debts’ in her annual report to the Assembly of the Republic yesterday.

The legitimacy of the Mozambican justice system’s claim was reinforced by the acquittal in December 2019 of Jean Boustani in the USA, she added.

Jean Boustani was acquitted by a court in New York after being tried on charges of being the central figure in setting up the scheme to pay alleged bribes to figures in the Mozambican state and international bankers involved in the operation of the ‘hidden debts’ mechanisms.

Boustani, who denied the payment of bribes in court but admitted that he authorised the payment of commissions [“success fees”] was, at the time the debts were contracted, the main negotiator for Privinvest, the maritime company contracted to provide vessels and maritime safety equipment to the three Mozambican companies which contracted the loans.

The Attorney General told parliament that Mozambique had given up disputing that South African Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola had the right to decide on Manuel Chang’s extradition, in order to facilitate the speedy transfer of the former minister of finance to either Mozambique or the USA.

“The Attorney General’s Office hopes that the withdrawal of the two appeals will contribute to the speed and effective clarification of the case and that the arguments presented to the Minister of Justice of South Africa will contribute to the re-analysis of the request and decision making,” Buchili said.

In a letter to Lamola dated Feb 17, which Lusa has seen, the Mozambican public prosecutor requests the extradition of the former minister, stating that “Mozambique has enough evidence to convict [Manuel] Chang and his co-defendants”.

Chang’s continued absence from Mozambique, Buchili said in parliament yesterday, is undermining the speed of the process around the hidden debts and the full clarification of the facts.

The hidden debts are related to loans worth US$2.2 billion (€2 billion) contracted between 2013 and 2014 in the form of credit from the British subsidiaries of the investment banks Credit Suisse and VTB by the Mozambican state-owned companies Proindicus, Ematum and MAM.

The loans were endorsed by the Mozambican government at the time, without the knowledge of parliament or its Administrative Court.

A total of 20 people were indicted in Mozambique, awaiting the decision of the courts on their August 2019 appeals against the indictment. Among them are figures from the circle close to former president Armando Guebuza, including his personal secretary, Inês Moaine, and his son Ndambi Guebuza.

The Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office has charged the defendants with criminal association, blackmail, passive corruption, embezzlement, abuse of office or function, violation of management rules and forgery of documents.

Source: Lusa