President Filipe Nyusi’s government has approached South Africa’s Constitutional Court for an order barring the Pretoria authorities from proceeding with the extradition of former Mozambican finance minister Manuel Chang to the United States, APA learnt here on Thursday.
Chang was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport in December 2018 in South Africa at the request of the US law enforcement agents who want him to answer to charges relating to his alleged involvement in obtaining fraudulent loans worth over US$2 billion for Mozambican state firms.
Both the US and Mozambique applied for Chang’s extradition in early 2019, charging him with money laundering, embezzlement and abuse of office.
The South African High Court ruled in November that the former Mozambican minister should be extradited to the US.
According to media reports monitored here on Thursday, Mozambique has now appealed to the South African Constitutional Court seeking a stay in the extradition order.
Chang denies any wrongdoing in the case that has sucked several high-profile officials, including Nyusi himself who was recently accused by an Abu Dhabi-based shipbuilder Privinvest.
In court papers filed in a separate court case in London, the shipbuilder claimed that some payments were made for Nyusi’s benefit, “including to fund his 2014 presidential-election campaign.”
JN/APA