The US government has expressed “great disappointment” that South Africa has decided to extradite Mozambique’s former finance minister Manuel Chang back to his own country rather than to the US to face massive fraud charges.
Chang was arrested at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport on 30 December 2018 on an Interpol warrant issued on behalf of the US, which also asked Pretoria to extradite him to the US. Masutha said in his statement on Tuesday that after considering several factors, including both the US-SA extradition treaty and the Southern African Development Community protocol on extraditions, “I am satisfied that the interest of justice will be best served by acceding to the request by the Republic of Mozambique.”
Other civil society watchdogs in Mozambique have more forthrightly stated that, by bringing Chang home, Frelimo would be better able to smother any revelations of corruption by other officials which Chang might reveal if he stood trial in the US. Chang, 63, was Mozambique’s Minister of Finance from 2005 until 2015. According to the US indictment against him, he conspired with other Mozambique officials, some employees of the Swiss bank, Credit Suisse and an executive of the French-based ship manufacturing company Privinvest to raise US$2-billion in loans, mainly from Credit Suisse but also from the Russian VTB bank in 2013 and 2014 to finance the purchase of a fleet of fishing trawlers and patrol boats for the Mozambique government.
Thomashausen said this assurance was false as the immunity only covered temporary detention for questioning and not prosecution. He said the Mozambican authorities had, after years of inactivity, only opened an investigation into Chang – without charging him- after his arrest in South Africa and the US extradition request.
PFabric Carry on SA..... you’ll pay the price soon enough...you think you still the darlings of the world and can get away playing with the big boys?.... shit’s gonna hit the fan!
PFabric Good move SA
PFabric Eli_Kunene
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