South Africa arrests former defence minister with intention of extraditing him to the US

SOUTH Africa has arrested the former Mozambican finance minister Manuel Chang who approved secret loans that plunged the country into a crisis with the intention of getting him extradited to the US to face trial for corruption.

According to Vishnu Naidoo, a spokesman for South Africa's police, Mr Chang, 63, was arrested at the airport while in transit to Dubai on Saturday for  USA extradition. A copy of a court document dated December 27, directing South African police officers to arrest Mr Chang for eventual surrender to the US, states that he is wanted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering.

Chang was Mozambique's finance minister between 2005 and 2015 under the presidency of Armando Guebuza and towards the end of his tenure, loans to the value of $2bn were secretly negotiated and signed. This hidden debt plunged Mozambique into its worst financial crisis since independence in 1975.

Debt soared to 112% of gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of 2017, forcing the country to suspend repayments, rousing distrust from investors. Donors including the International Monetary Fund and World Bank suspended aid to Mozambique after the government admitted it had secretly borrowed the $2bn to fund a coastal protection plan.

A spokesman for former president Guebuza blamed the Mozambican government for failing to protect Mr Chang. He added: “Mozambican authorities would have had information about the warrant of arrest but did nothing to protect the ex-minister.

One Mozambican diplomatic source in South Africa confirmed that Mr Chang had briefly appeared in court and that the hearing continues on January 8 in Pretoria. According to Mr Naidoo, Mr Chang had already appeared at Kempton Park Court, a magistrate’s court in a district near Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport.