Mozambique ex-finance minister to be extradited to US for trial in loan scandal News
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Mozambique ex-finance minister to be extradited to US for trial in loan scandal

A South African judge ruled Monday that Mozambique’s former finance minister Manuel Chang, charged in the US with loan fraud of more than USD $2 billion, can be extradited to the US to face trial.

Chang, who was Mozambique’s finance minister between 2005 and 2015, was indicted in December for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. While Chang was finance minister, Mozambique’s state-owned security companies borrowed from foreign lenders. This debt was never disclosed to the IMF until 2016.

A South African judge ruled in January that the detention of Chang was legal under the extradition treaty between the US and South Africa. The Kempton Park magistrate’s court ruled on Monday that all conditions under the extradition treaty between the US and South Africa are are met so that Chang can be tried in the US.