Embassy spokesmen Robert Mearkle noted that US law allowed Chang, who is facing huge fraud charges in both the US and Mozambique, to be tried first in the US and then Mozambique.The US asked Pretoria in December to extradite him to the US to face fraud and corruption charges flowing from a US$2-billion loan scam. He and others are alleged to have siphoned off millions of dollars from the loans meant to finance fishing and military patrol ships.
But later the Mozambican government also asked South Africa to extradite him to his home country to face charges related to the same scam. The US said at the time that it had noted Masutha’s statement “with great disappointment” and added that Pretoria had received its extradition request before Mozambique’s.Manuel Chang is accused of carrying out a $2-billion fraud and money laundering scheme that took advantage of the US financial system and defrauded US investors,” it said then.