Former Finance Minister Manuel Chang was found guilty on Thursday (08) of the two crimes of which he is accused. It took three weeks of trial and three days of deliberation.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn convicted Chang of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money, according to the Center for Public Integrity, which is closely following the trial.

Manuel Chang was initially charged with three crimes, but the charge of conspiracy to commit securities fraud was dropped.

With this, Chang becomes the first former member of the Mozambican government to be convicted abroad of corruption while a member of the government, writes the Mozambican Non-Governmental Organization.

"The decision was announced at 3:55 p.m. in New York, 9:55 p.m. in Maputo. Then, Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis, 75, declared the end of the trial and will draw up the sentence indicating the time Chang must serve in prison in the US, which could be up to 20 years, according to a statement from the US Department of Justice (DoJ). The date of publication of the sentence has not been announced. The defense has the possibility of appealing the decision," reads the CIP publication.

In all, there are eight defendants in this case in which Chang was convicted, including two other Mozambicans, António Carlos do Rosário and Teófilo Nhangumele, serving sentences in Maputo.

The US justice system says more mozambicans are conspirators in the case of hidden debtsIn the meantime, there is no information that any defendants have been constituted.