Former Mozambican Finance Minister, Manuel Chang, is again in the news for seeking to dismiss a United States indictment against him.
Chang has been detained in South African prison since December 2018 and was since then at the centre of an 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.
Chang’s lawyers in the US have argued that the lengthy detention in South Africa, pending the end of the extradition battle between Mozambique and the US, has denied their client the right to a speedy trial.
Chang is wanted in the US for his role in the $2.2 billion ‘hidden debts’ scandal.
The term “hidden debts” refers to loans worth $2.2 billion obtained from the banks Credit Suisse and VTB Russia by three Mozambican companies, ProIndicus, EMATUM (Mozambique Tuna Company) and MAM (Mozambique Asset Management), with the sole contractor and supplier, the Abu Dhabi-based group Privinvest, selling them fishing boats, radar stations and other assets at exceedingly inflated prices, between 2013 and 2014.
As Finance Minister, Chang signed loan guarantees, committing the government to pay the banks in case the companies defaulted, which happened. As international investors, including Americans, bought the bonds – the American government’s involvement hinges on the fact that the scheme abused the US financial system.
So, Chang is key to explaining the details of the ‘hidden debts’ scandal. But he is not alone in the ministry of finance with knowledge of what transpired: one name that seems to be fading from the radar is that of Maria Isaltina Lucas.
Isaltina Lucas was national treasurer at the Ministry of Finance, when government obtained the loans. According to Privinvest, she is one of those who took a bribe from the shipbuilding company.
Although many senior figures in government, specifically the senior management of Banco de Moçambique, Mozambique’s central bank, have been charged with various crimes for their involvement in the scandal, there have been no charges levelled against Isaltina Lucas.
Evidence shows that as the Treasury National Director, she signed favourable opinions that led to the issuance of the state guarantees in the contracting of the three loans for the three Mozambican companies.
Incidentally, she was appointed to the board of EMATUM from August 2013 to July 2014, where she was paid a total of $95,000 for her troubles.
Nevertheless, even with strong accusations against Isaltina Lucas, in March 2016, she was appointed deputy-Minister of Economy and Finance during President Filipe Nyusi’s first term of office. As the scandal broke and her name started being mentioned as a key figure in it, she was dismissed from the post on 7 February 2019.
After her dismissal from the post of deputy-Minister of Economy and Finance, she was briefly appointed as an adviser to then Prime Minister, Agostinho do Rosário.
The state seems to have turned a blind eye to documents produced by Privinvest at the London High Court, showing the extent of her involvement. the documents show that Privinvest made payments to Isaltina Lucas to invest in real estate projects, as well as a maritime project, in which she had as partners her brother Osório Lucas.
Privinvest have not mentioned how much it transferred to Islatina Lucas, but evidence presented by the US government during the trial of a Privinvest executive, Jean Boustani, at a court in Brooklyn, in New York, showed that she received about $2 million from Privinvest.
Comment
Observers are questioning the reason for Maria Isaltina Lucas’ apparent impunity in Mozambique. This is because initially her name was on the list of the 16 state managers charged by the Attorney-General’s Office (PGR). But somehow the charges against her were mysteriously dropped – she appeared in court only as a witness.
This raises questions as to why Isaltina Lucas, who headed a key sector, and knows her the payments were made and who benefitted and how much from the kickbacks, was never brought before a judge in a court of law.
When she was dismissed, observers thought that her detention and subsequent trial was eminent. But that never came to pass, suggesting that she has secured political protection from Nyusi’s government. Such a protection was not afforded to the central bank senior management, including its then governor, Ernesto Gove, who never received a single cent from the scandal – their only crime being the facilitation of the loans.
That she seems to be untouchable leads to the conclusion that it might be because she holds crucial information that can bring the house of cards tumbling down. Crucial to this is that she might know who the New Man mentioned in the Brooklyn indictment is – although Mozambicans seem certain that it refers to the President himself – and how much he got paid, and who might have received the bribe paid to him, that is, she might hold all answers to the open secret.
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