Former Mozambican finance minister, Manuel Chang, in court in Kempton Park, Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday Jan. 8, 2019.
Former South African justice minister Michael Masutha had decided before leaving his post that Chang should be sent back to Mozambique.On Friday, Judge Denise Fisher obliged, sending both Masutha's decision to extradite Chang to Mozambique as well as his dismissal of the US extradition request to Lamola for him to rule on the matter.
One factor in Lamola's move to have his predecessor's decision revoked was a concern that Chang still benefited from political immunity in Mozambique. The US charges relate to loans obtained from Credit Suisse and Russia's VTB bank that were guaranteed by the Mozambican government but some of which were not disclosed, that Chang signed off on during his 2005-2015 term as finance minister.