Former Mozambican Finance Minister Manuel Chang was sentenced today in the United States as part of the hidden debts case.
The verdict was handed down by a federal jury in New York, according to the Associated Press (AP) news agency. Chang was charged with accepting bribes and conspiracy to embezzle funds from Mozambique's efforts to protect and expand its natural gas and fishing industries, in a plan to enrich himself and cheat investors.
Chang, who was the chief financial officer from 2005 to 2015, pleaded not guilty to the charges. His lawyers said that the former minister was doing what his government wanted when he signed the promises that Mozambique would pay back the loans and that there is no evidence of a financial quid pro quo for the then ruler.
Between 2013 and 2016, three companies controlled by the Mozambican government discreetly took out million-dollar loans from major foreign banks.
Chang signed guarantees that the government would repay the loans, which were crucial for the creditors.
The proceeds were supposed to finance a tuna fleet, a shipyard, Coast Guard vessels and radar systems to protect the natural gas fields off the Indian Ocean coast.
More bankers and government officials embezzled the loan money, US prosecutors said.
"The evidence in this case shows you that there is an international fraud, money laundering and bribery scheme of epic proportions here," and that Chang "chose to participate," US Assistant Prosecutor Genny Ngai told jurors in her closing arguments.
Prosecutors accused Chang of collecting seven million dollars in bribes, transferred through US banks to an associate's European accounts.
Chang's defence said there was no evidence that he was promised or received a cent.
The only deal Chang made "was the legal agreement to borrow money from banks to allow his country to engage in these public infrastructure works," said defense lawyer Adam Ford.
Discovered in 2016, the debts were estimated at around 2.7 billion dollars (around 2.55 billion euros), according to figures presented by the Mozambican Public Prosecutor's Office.
Mozambique was then one of the ten fastest growing economies in the world for two decades, according to the World Bank, but ended up plunged into financial upheaval.
The Mozambican government reached out-of-court agreements with creditors in an attempt to pay off part of the debt.
The hidden debt scandal dates back to 2013 and 2014, when the then finance minister approved state guarantees on loans from Proinducus, Ematum and MAM to the banks Credit Suisse and VTB, without parliamentary approval.
Chang was arrested at Johannesburg's main international airport at the end of 2018, shortly before the US indictment became public.
