Manuel Chang will not be extradited to Mozambique or US – Court

By Arnaldo Cuamba

The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, South Africa, decided on Friday morning that the former Mozambican finance minister, Manuel Chang, will not be extradited to Mozambique neither US.

The new decision overturns the one made by the former South African justice minister, Michael Masutha, when he decided on 21 May that Chang should be extradited to Mozambique.

Meanwhile, the new minister, Ronald Ozzy Lamola, requested a review of the decision, after finding that Manuel Chang, once a deputy before his arrest in South African territory, enjoys double immunity

This means that if he is extradited to Mozambique, he would then be released as soon as he entered national territory because the mozambican law states that no Member of Parliament should be detained unless he is found in the act of crime.

Thus, a new decision must be announced, but it is not known when. Furthermore, the fact that the former minister's decision has been overturned does not exactly mean that Chang will be sent to the US. It will depend on the new data that Minister Lamola will have on his desk.

Manuel Chang has been detained in South Africa since December last year at the request of the US in the investigation that the country is doing on the case of the so-called hidden debts.