The request for extradition of the former Finance Minister, Manuel Chang, to Mozambique, made by the Attorney General's Office (PGR), was denied, this Tuesday, by the Constitutional Court of South Africa.

The OPG has asked the South African Constitutional Court, as early as the end of 2021, to reassess the decision of the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg to extradite Manuel Chang to the United States of America.

"The Court concluded that the request should be dismissed with costs, as it is not in the interest of Justice to hear it at this stage," reads a document quoted by Notícias, via Lusa.

Manuel Chang, considered to be one of the ringleaders of the Hidden Debts, has been imprisoned in South Africa for three and a half years and without trial.

The case for the extradition of the former Mozambican ruler is still pending before South Africa's Supreme Court of Justice in Bloemfontein, where the OPG has also filed a request to appeal the decision announced on November 10 last year by the provincial court in Johannesburg.

The court decision follows an urgent appeal by the Forum for Budget Monitoring (FMO), which challenged the decision by South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola to extradite Manuel Chang to Mozambique, announced in August last year.

Manuel Chang was arrested on December 29, 2018 at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg en route to Dubai on an international arrest warrant issued by the United States on December 27 for his alleged involvement in the Hidden Debts case.