The deportation of former Mozambican finance minister Manuel Chang has been delayed after US authorities prevented him from boarding a flight from Boston due to problems linked to an intended stopover in Lisbon, his defence team says.
According to reports monitored here on Monday, Chang – who completed his prison sentence for corruption-related crimes last week – remains in US immigration custody as lawyers seek a court order compelling his immediate removal to Mozambique.
Chang’s lawyers said he was stopped at Boston Logan International Airport on Friday because Portuguese authorities had not approved an emergency travel document issued by Mozambique’s embassy in Washington to enable his transit through Lisbon.
The defence said the document had been accepted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a Boston–Lisbon–Maputo itinerary had been arranged in advance.
Chang was released from a US prison on 26 March after serving a reduced portion of his 102‑month sentence for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
He had been detained since December 2018 when he was arrested in South Africa and later extradited to the United States over his role in Mozambique’s “hidden debts” scandal in which he was accused of accepting bribes and helping divert hundreds of millions of dollars from state‑backed maritime security projects.
After his release from prison, Chang was transferred to ICE custody and taken to the airport but was denied boarding and later moved to the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts.
His lawyers say he has now been held for more than 24 hours without clarity on what additional documentation is required and have asked the court to intervene, citing his chronic health conditions, including kidney disease, hypertension and diabetes.
Chang served as Mozambique’s finance minister from 2005 to 2015 and was convicted in January 2025 for his role in a scheme that defrauded investors and plunged his country into a financial crisis.
JN/APA