South Africa to extradite Mozambique’s ex-finance minister

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME
Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa will extradite Mozambique’s former finance minister Manuel Chang to his home country instead of to the United States where he faces corruption and fraud charges. Chang is expected to stand trial in Mozambique on charges of being involved in a $2.2 billion loan scam while he was finance minister from 2005 to 2015. Chang has been in the custody of South Africa since 2018 when he was arrested at the request of the United States, which has indicted him on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. Chang allegedly received more than $17 million in kickbacks for approving loans to the Mozambican government for state projects riddled with corruption.