SA hands over ex-minister of Mozambique to FBI

South Africa has extradited former Mozambique Finance Minister Manuel Chang on Tuesday to the USA to face fraud and corruption charges.

Chang has been in jail in South Africa since December 2018.

FBI AWAIT TO EXTRIDITE THE EX-MINISTER

Media Statement
For Immediate Release
Update on the Extradition of Mr Manuel Chang pic.twitter.com/GdHp6oFrae

— Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services 🇿🇦 (@Min_JCS) July 12, 2023

During his term in office Chang secretly signed off on a $2,2billion loan from  Credit Suisse and Russia’s VTB bank that were guaranteed by the Mozambican government.

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The USA’s interest in the case and subsequent charges they say are due to the fact than when Chang obtained the loans, he had in effect defrauded US citizens who hand invested into those loan schemes.

Mozambican authorities however had preferred for Chang to face charges in Mozambique, but the Constitutional Court dismissed Mozambique’s appeal in May.

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CHANG’S ACTIONS DEALT DEVASTATING BLOWS FOR MOZAMBICAN ECONOMY

According to reports, the money was used to pay off bribes , purchase a tuna factory and a maritime security fleet.

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After the full scale of the secret lending was revealed, Mozambican government went into a an economic crisis with it’s currency losing a third of it’s value.

The Mozambican government say there is still half a billion dollars unaccounted for and Hope’s to learn through the trial of its whereabouts.

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