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Dadparvar
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Mozambique’s former finance minister, Manuel Chang, has been sentenced to serve eight-and-a-half years in prison this Friday for his role in the “tuna bond” scandal by a Brooklyn court.
In 2005, Mozambique’s President Armando Guebuza named Manuel Chang as Minister of Finance to lead the fight against poverty. Ironically, Chang—along with other state officials—were involved in accepting payoffs that triggered a financial crisis for the already struggling country.
Between 2013 and 2014, three state-owned Mozambican companies secured $2.2 billion in loans for a tuna fishing project. During his tenure, Chang managed to pocket $7 million in bribes in exchange for signing guarantees on behalf of Mozambique. The loans, backed by illegal state guarantees, were concealed from the public and international donors. The revelation of the “hidden” debt led to a currency collapse in 2016 —one year after a new finance minister replaced Chang’s place in an election change and subsequent cabinet reshuffle.
The $2-billion fraud case led to Chang’s 2018 arrest and detention in South Africa. Since his deception had involved banks and investors in the US, diplomatic and court battles began between Mozambique and the United States to determine who had jurisdiction of his case. Chang was eventually extradited to New York in 2023 and convicted of wire fraud and money laundering in august 2024.
After he had already spent nearly six years in pre-sentence custody between the US and South Africa, the Federal Court in New York sentenced him to an additional two-and-a-half years. He was also ordered to forfeit the $7 million he had amassed. New York’s Acting US Attorney Carolyn Pokorny, FBI Assistant Director James Dennehy, and head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division Brent Wible, announced the sentence together in a press release.
“Today’s sentence shows that foreign officials who abuse their power to commit crimes targeting the US financial system will meet US justice,” Pokorny declared.
The post US court sentences former Mozambique finance minister to extended prison term appeared first on JURIST - News.
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In 2005, Mozambique’s President Armando Guebuza named Manuel Chang as Minister of Finance to lead the fight against poverty. Ironically, Chang—along with other state officials—were involved in accepting payoffs that triggered a financial crisis for the already struggling country.
Between 2013 and 2014, three state-owned Mozambican companies secured $2.2 billion in loans for a tuna fishing project. During his tenure, Chang managed to pocket $7 million in bribes in exchange for signing guarantees on behalf of Mozambique. The loans, backed by illegal state guarantees, were concealed from the public and international donors. The revelation of the “hidden” debt led to a currency collapse in 2016 —one year after a new finance minister replaced Chang’s place in an election change and subsequent cabinet reshuffle.
The $2-billion fraud case led to Chang’s 2018 arrest and detention in South Africa. Since his deception had involved banks and investors in the US, diplomatic and court battles began between Mozambique and the United States to determine who had jurisdiction of his case. Chang was eventually extradited to New York in 2023 and convicted of wire fraud and money laundering in august 2024.
After he had already spent nearly six years in pre-sentence custody between the US and South Africa, the Federal Court in New York sentenced him to an additional two-and-a-half years. He was also ordered to forfeit the $7 million he had amassed. New York’s Acting US Attorney Carolyn Pokorny, FBI Assistant Director James Dennehy, and head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division Brent Wible, announced the sentence together in a press release.
“Today’s sentence shows that foreign officials who abuse their power to commit crimes targeting the US financial system will meet US justice,” Pokorny declared.
The post US court sentences former Mozambique finance minister to extended prison term appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.