Africa-Press – Mozambique. The High Court of Gauteng, in Johannesburg, South Africa, is expected to rule today on an urgent application filed by Mozambique’s Forum for Budget Monitoring (FMO) that seeks to prevent the extradition of former Mozambican finance minister Manuel Chang to Mozambique.
“We are awaiting directives today at any time from the judge of the Superior Court of Gauteng,” a source from one of the parties opposing the FMO’s application in the process of the extradition of the former Mozambican government official told Lusa.
The FMO, an organisation that has advocated Manuel Chang’s extradition to the US since his arrest in South Africa, wants a review of the decision of South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, he said.
At issue is the decision announced on Monday to Lusa by the spokesman for the South African Ministry of Justice, Chrispin Phiri, reporting that South Africa has decided to extradite former finance minister Manuel Chang to Mozambique. He was detained in 2018, at the request of the United States of America (USA) for fraud and corruption in the case of ‘hidden debts’.
On Manuel Chang’s handover to the authorities in Mozambique, the source explained: “If the court does not accept part A of the request, he will [be handed over], but if the court decides that he stays, he will only leave after the request for review is determined”.
The parties are waiting to receive from the FMO’s lawyers “the necessary information to access the court”, the source added.
“The application preventing him from being extradited has been challenged, and now the court will decide whether or not to grant it,” he said.
It is the second time that South Africa has committed to handing the former minister over to the authorities in Mozambique, but this time it happens as the Judicial Court of Maputo City has this Monday in the Mozambican capital started the trial of 19 defendants accused of involvement in the ‘hidden debts’ case.
On Tuesday, trial judge Efigénio Baptista ruled that the former minister will be heard “as a deponent” in the case.
Former finance minister Manuel Chang is facing three court cases in Mozambique, according to the extradition request submitted by the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic of Mozambique (PGR) to the South African Ministry of Justice in 2019.
