South Africa Justice Minister Say US Wasn't Prewarned of Move to Extradite Chang to Mozambique
May 22 2019 - 12:44PM
Dow Jones News
By Thandi Ntobela and Gabriele Steinhauser
JOHANNESBURG--U.S. authorities received no prior warning before
South Africa publicly stated that a former Mozambican finance
minister indicted in New York in connection with an alleged
corruption scheme would be extradited to his home country, instead
of to the U.S., South Africa's justice minister said Wednesday.
The U.S. Justice Department alleges that Manuel Chang received
at least $12 million in bribes for helping arrange some $2 billion
in fraudulent loans in 2013 and 2014 while he was finance minister
of Mozambique, one of the world's poorest countries.
Mr. Chang was arrested at Johannesburg airport in late December
on a U.S. warrant, but Mozambique's government said weeks later
that it wants the former minister and current member of parliament
to face the charges at home.
A South African court earlier this year ruled both extradition
requests as valid, leaving it up to South African Justice Minister
Michael Masutha to decide where Mr. Chang will be sent.
"The facts weighed more in favor of the Mozambique extradition
request," Mr. Masutha said in an interview with The Wall Street
Journal.
Among the points he considered were Mr. Chang's nationality and
the former minister's own wish to be extradited to Mozambique,
along with the fact that the African nation is bearing the brunt of
his alleged crimes. The loans, which Mozambique defaulted on in
2017, plunged the country into a deep financial crisis from which
it is still struggling to recover.
Neither the U.S. nor the Mozambican governments were informed
ahead of the extradition announcement on Tuesday evening, Mr.
Masutha said.
The decision is a setback for the Justice Department, which has
been working to police corruption in developing countries when they
involve financial institutions active in the U.S. or hurt American
investors. In addition to Mr. Chang, the U.S. sought the
extradition from the U.K. of three former Credit Suisse (CSGN.EB)
bankers who helped arrange the Mozambican loans.
On Monday, one of the three bankers, Detelina Subeva, pleaded
guilty to one count of conspiracy to launder funds in a federal
court in Brooklyn, where she traveled to voluntarily. Her alleged
co-conspirators are still fighting their extradition.
Civil society organizations and opposition politicians in
Mozambique have said they don't believe Mr. Chang will actually
face justice at home, but that charges brought against him and
other former officials are an attempt to thwart more serious
prosecution elsewhere.
Mr. Chang is a member of Mozambique's ruling Frelimo party,
which is facing national elections in October. Frelimo and South
Africa's African National Congress--both former liberation
movements in their respective countries--have a close, longstanding
relationship.
Mr. Masutha said he would be surprised if the government of
Mozambique didn't prosecute Mr. Chang soon.
"The government of Mozambique's credibility is at stake here.
The onus is on the government to demonstrate its resolve in
fighting crime and corruption," he said.
Write to Thandi Ntobela simthandile.ntobela@wsj.com and Gabriele
Steinhauser at gabriele.steinhauser@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 22, 2019 12:29 ET (16:29 GMT)
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