A U.S. court docket has convicted Mozambique’s former finance minister in a decade-long conspiracy that triggered Mozambique’s worst financial disaster since independence.
Manuel Chang was discovered responsible of accepting bribes for secret mortgage approvals by way of Financial institution of America.
The loans had been meant to pay for tuna fishing fleets and different tasks, resulting in what turned referred to as the “tuna bond” scandal.
However the loans had been plundered, leaving Mozambique with $2bn (£1.5bn) in debt.
Zhang was arrested in South Africa in 2018 and extradited to america the next 12 months to face fraud and cash laundering costs.
Mozambican authorities need Zhang despatched again to their residence nation relatively than face trial in america.
He can be sentenced later and will face 20 years in jail. Zhang denies the fees and his lawyer mentioned he plans to enchantment the decision.
Analysts say it is likely one of the largest corruption instances on the continent.
Ten different individuals in Mozambique have been imprisoned in reference to the scandal, together with the son of then-president Armando Guebuza.
The loans had been issued by Credit score Suisse and Russia’s VTB Financial institution and assured by the Mozambican authorities.
However a number of the mortgage funds weren’t disclosed and had been signed by Zhang when he was finance minister from 2005 to 2015.
A New York court docket discovered Zhang accepted $7 million in bribes, however his lawyer mentioned there was no proof Zhang accepted “a penny” and mentioned the tasks had been accepted by former President Guebuza and different ministers.
However in closing arguments on Monday, Assistant U.S. Legal professional Genny Ngai mentioned Zhang personally “signed all mortgage ensures…he was vital to the approval of the mortgage.”
“He cared extra about cash than standing,” she instructed the court docket.
Beforehand, three former Credit score Suisse bankers pleaded responsible to U.S. cash laundering costs in reference to the “tuna bond” case. On the finish of 2021, British authorities fine investment bank $178 million over scandal.
The fantastic is a part of a $475 million settlement with regulators in the UK, Switzerland and america.
‘Thousands and thousands of individuals plunged into poverty’ and ‘billions of {dollars}’ as a result of fraudulent transactions [was] Richard Messick, writer of the World Anti-Corruption Weblog, mentioned: tell the bbc.
An unbiased audit ordered by the Worldwide Financial Fund revealed lacking funds amounting to £500 million that had been misappropriated, and the group later withdrew its assist for Mozambique. It is unclear the place the cash went.
Mozambique is wealthy in pure sources – it has massive offshore pure gasoline reserves, ruby mines, and so forth. Its financial system has grown steadily lately, however it stays one of many poorest international locations on the continent.
Breon Peace, U.S. Legal professional for the Japanese District of New York, mentioned in an announcement on Thursday: “At this time’s sentence is an encouragement to justice and to the individuals of Mozambique who had been betrayed by the defendant, a corrupt high-level authorities. A Triumph of Human Hearts Grasping and self-interested officers betrayed one of many poorest international locations on this planet.
