The Mozambican government said today that the Mozambican Attorney General's Office has frozen at least seven million dollars returned by Manuel Chang, a former Finance Minister detained in the United States in connection with the hidden debts.
"Yes, it is confirmed. All the amounts returned in the context of the proceedings associated with these loans, since the proceedings are ongoing, have been channeled and are under the custody of the Attorney General's Office until the proceedings are concluded", declared the Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance, Amílcar Tivane, responding to a question from the media about the return to the Mozambican state of around seven million dollars (6.4 million euros) by Manuel Chang.
Chang, who has been detained in New York since July 2023 after being extradited from South Africa, is accused of conspiracy to commit fraud and involvement in a money laundering scheme, and faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted. He is also targeted in other proceedings linked to the hidden debts scandal in Mozambique.
At the opening of the trial in the United States on July 16, US prosecutors accused the former finance minister of Mozambique of taking $7 million in bribes in a "corrupt" scheme to enrich himself and deceive investors, the legal news website Law360 reported at the time.
During opening statements, a prosecutor told the jury that Chang was a "corrupt foreign official who abused his authority to enrich himself through bribery, fraud and money laundering," accusing him of conspiring to divert funds from Mozambique's efforts to protect and expand its natural gas and fishing industries.
Three deals cost $622 million (€568.8 million) to finance coastal surveillance, $855 million (€781.7 million) for a fleet of tuna fishing boats and $535 million (€489.3 million) for shipyard projects, according to prosecutor Peter Cooch - quoted by Law360 -, stressing that investors lost millions of dollars because "the projects were a failure" and Mozambique defaulted on the loans.
Evidence at the trial will include documentation of bribes and wire transfers to a Swiss bank account controlled by a friend of Chang, the prosecutor explained.
Chang denies all the accusations and points to the current President, Filipe Nyusi, at the time Minister of Defense, as being the one who ordered him to sign the bank guarantees that made the hidden debts possible.
Chang was Mozambique's finance minister during the government of Armando Guebuza, between 2005 and 2010, and is said to have guaranteed debts of US$2.7 billion (€2.5 billion) secretly contracted in favor of EMATUM, Proindicus and MAM, public companies mentioned in the US indictment, allegedly created for this purpose in the maritime security and fisheries sectors, between 2013 and 2014, in a scandal that would only be uncovered in 2016.
In order to cancel debts and claim financial compensation, Mozambique took the case to the British courts, alleging corruption, conspiracy to commit fraud and dishonest assistance.
The London Commercial Court ruled today in favor of Mozambique, determining that the shipping group Privinvest must pay compensation for corruption by former finance minister Manuel Chang.
The Mozambican Attorney General's Office said today that the country is entitled to receive approximately $1.9 billion (€1.8 billion) as a result of the ruling.
