Court rules ex-Mozambique finance minister should be extradited to US

JOHANNESBURG

A South African court ruled on Wednesday that former Mozambique finance minister should be extradited to the US over charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering.

According to the Gauteng High Court's decision, Manuel Chang, who was implicated in a $2-billion corruption case in Mozambique, will be extradited to the US to stand trial on charges of fraud and money laundering.

Arrested in South Africa in 2018 at the request of the US, Chang has since been in the Modderbee Prison in Gauteng province.

The Maputo government in Mozambique, which wants Chang to return to the country, has not yet issued a statement.

The decision, however, was welcomed by some civil society groups in Mozambique.

The South African government decided in August to extradite Chang to Mozambique.

However, this decision was suspended pending the conclusion of the case, when Mozambique's Budget Monitoring Forum (FMO), an umbrella body of watchdog NGOs, took the matter to court to halt his return to the country for fear that he would be granted immunity from prosecution.

FMO asked the authorities instead to extradite Chang to the US.

* Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev from Ankara