Former Mozambican Finance Minister Manuel Chang’s destination is still unknown, as the non-governmental organisation Budget Monitoring Forum (FMO) wrote to South Africa’s Justice Minister, Ronald Lomola, asking whether he intends to comply with that country’s Constitutional Court’s order to extradite him to the United States.
Chang was arrested in December 2018 at the OR Tambo International Airport, in Johannesburg, on his way to Dubai, following an arrest warrant by the US, which led to a lengthy extradition battle pitting Mozambique and the US, which ended when on 25 May 2023 the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled in favour of the US.
Since Lomola has yet to take any visible action, the FMO, through its lawyers, has sent him a letter requesting that he “confirms his intention to comply with the High Court’s order; explains the steps he has taken, and intends to take, if any, to extradite Mr Chang to the United States; and complies with the High Court’s order by forthwith extraditing Mr Chang to the United States.”
The FMO also reminded Lomola that “failure to comply with a court order amounts to contempt of court, and may result in various further orders against the Minister, including in his personal capacity,” demanding that Lomola responds to the letter no later than 27 June 2023.
Comment
German Emeritus Professor of Public, Constitutional and International Law and a keen watcher of Mozambican political affairs, Andre Thomashausen, told the weekly Evidências that he believes that it behoves whoever gave the order for Chang to sign the state guarantees backing the loans taken by the three Mozambican companies that he remains in South Africa.
Thomashausen is of the mind that Chang could just plead the American 5th Amendment for fear that he could incriminate himself back in Mozambique.
As Chang continues to languish in a South African jail, the question in the minds of Mozambicans is whether the whole truth regarding the “hidden debt” will ever be known.
Furthermore, Thomashausen thinks there’s also a possibility of Chang being silenced while under South African custody as rumourmongers believe that he might be extradited to New York in July, which would be when the murderous plot would be put in motion.
Observers claim that this is because while Chang remains in South Africa, he cannot spill the beans on how the “hidden debt” scandal came to be, on who gave the order for Chang to send a letter to Credit Suisse to transfer the $2.2 billion to Privinvest’s account and not to Bank of Mozambique.
Consequently, the question is whether the order came from former President Armando Guebuza or from former Defence Minister and current President Nyusi, who at the time was Guebuza’s designated successor (or simply “the New Man”?).
At least, Guebuza did have his day in court during the “hidden debt” trial, where he appeared as a witness. But Nyusi, who enjoys immunity from prosecution in Mozambique, has managed to steer free from a court appearance and has claimed innocence, as we mentioned earlier that then Defence Minister has been hiding behind the now president, rendering the case complex and worsening his situation in Mozambique and abroad, namely London and New York.
The “hidden debt” trial only scratched the surface as it focused solely on the kickbacks, which accounted for $200 million. As such, the FMO, which was criticised within circles linked to the ruling Frelimo party for fighting to have Chang extradited to the US, is still saying the course and insists that Chang could be key in the whole saga.
The FMO, and many domestic circles, including in Frelimo lines, believe that justice will be better served with Chang going to the US, where he is likely to have a fair trial.
In this complicated and murky saga, what lies ahead?
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