JOHANNESBURG — A former Mozambique finance minister who has been held in jail in South Africa for almost 5 years was extradited Wednesday to america to face a fraud and corruption trial over a $2 billion scandal involving fraudulent authorities loans.
South African authorities stated that Manuel Chang, who was Mozambique’s finance minister from 2005 to 2015, was handed over to U.S. authorities after his last-ditch court docket effort to keep away from extradition failed in Might.
Chang is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in U.S. District Court docket in Brooklyn.
Chang’s legal professional, Adam Ford, stated his consumer is “relieved to have lastly gotten to America the place he can confront the baseless costs in opposition to him.”
“He appears to be like ahead to his day in court docket and expects to be totally vindicated,” Ford stated in an e-mail.
It brings to an finish an almost five-year authorized battle by Chang to keep away from going through trial within the U.S. and be extradited as an alternative to his house nation, the place rights teams have protested that he would seemingly be handled leniently.
He’s accused of receiving bribes of as much as $17 million throughout a scheme that secured loans for Mozambican state-owned firms from international banks and financiers for maritime tasks. The cash was looted via kickbacks and different corrupt dealings, in line with U.S. prosecutors.
Chang was indicted in federal court docket in New York over his involvement within the scheme, which U.S. authorities allege defrauded American and worldwide buyers. He has not commented on the fees in opposition to him.
The loans totaling $2 billion have been supposed for the acquisition of fishing vessels and naval patrol boats and different assets to assist Mozambique’s fishing trade, nevertheless it’s alleged that by no means occurred.
“The Ministry of Justice and Correctional Companies confirms that the Republic of South Africa’s legislation enforcement companies efficiently surrendered Mr Manuel Chang to america of America on July 12, 2023,” the ministry stated.
The scandal prompted a monetary disaster in Mozambique when the Worldwide Financial Fund withdrew its help for the nation after the so-called “hidden money owed” have been revealed in 2016.
Chang was arrested on the O.R. Tambo Worldwide Airport in Johannesburg in 2018 on a U.S. warrant.
The Mozambican authorities’s personal makes an attempt to have him face trial in Mozambique have been dismissed by a number of South African courts.
In a letter a month in the past to U.S. District Decide Nicholas Garaufis, Ford sought to have the case dismissed, asserting that Chang’s proper to a speedy trial had been violated.
The legal professional famous {that a} U.S. jury in 2019 acquitted a co-defendant, Jean Boustini, a Lebanese nationwide who labored for a Center Jap shipbuilding firm, who was accused by American authorities of serving to in a cash laundering scheme that concerned greater than $2 billion as a part of a scheme to defraud U.S. buyers and others.
“Mr. Chang is assured that, if he have been ever tried in america, a jury would attain an identical end result,” Ford stated within the letter.
In 2021, Swiss financial institution Credit score Suisse agreed to pay at the least $475 million to British and American authorities to settle bribery and kickback allegations stemming from their involvement with the corrupt loans.
Not less than 10 individuals have already been convicted and sentenced to jail by a Mozambican court docket over the scandal, together with Ndambi Guebuza, the son of former Mozambican president Armando Guebuza. He was sentenced to 12 years in jail for receiving as much as $33 million from the corrupt deal.
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Related Press author Bobby Caina Calvan in New York contributed.
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Related Press Africa information: https://apnews.com/hub/africa