Johannesburg – An ex-Mozambican finance minister wanted by Washington in connection with a graft scandal that triggered an unprecedented financial crisis in his home country will be handed over to the FBI this week, South African police said on Monday.
Manuel Chang has been held in South Africa since 2018 at the United States’ request over his alleged role in a case that triggered financial havoc in Mozambique.
“Yes, Manuel Chang is expected to be extradited to the USA, he was arrested in South Africa and has been in custody since his arrest,” police spokeswoman Athlenda Mathe told AFP.
“I know that the FBI are in the country, they have already arrived and they are ready to pick him up so it’s just a matter of handing him over,” she said.
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The so-called “hidden debt” scandal saw the Mozambican government contracting secret loans amounting to $2 billion in 2013 and 2014 from international banks to buy a tuna-fishing fleet and surveillance vessels.
Maputo hid the loans from parliament, but the debt came to light in 2016, prompting donors, including the IMF and the World Bank, to turn off financial support.
Chang — who signed off the loans and lost a battle against extradition earlier this year — is accused of having used the US financial system to carry out the fraudulent scheme.
The scandal sparked Mozambique’s worst economic crisis since independence from Portugal four decades previously.
An independent audit later found $500 million had been diverted and remains unaccounted for.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
