Mozambique's former Finance Minister, Manuel Chang, may meet his final fate this afternoon when it is 3pm South Africa time (same time in Mozambique).

The information is advanced by the office of the South African judge Margaret Victor, who heard the case in September, and spoke to Lusa news agency.  

It is known that in September the South African court heard the Forum for Budget Monitoring (FMO) objection to Chang's extradition to Mozambique, after having postponed the hearing of the case twice, on August 25 and 27.

After a marathon nine-hour hearing of the case by videoconference, Judge Margarete Victor also issued an order extending the commitment of South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola not to extradite former Mozambican ruler Chang to Mozambique pending the trial of the case.

At the time, the parties argued mainly about Chang's immunity from trial, and whether Mozambique offered concrete guarantees to South Africa to arrest and bring to trial its former finance minister upon arrival in Maputo, should he be extradited to the neighboring country in connection with the €2 billion "hidden debts" case.

However, the South African lawyer for the Mozambique Attorney General's Office (PGR) did not clarify the court in Johannesburg whether former minister Manuel Chang is already formally charged to stand trial in his country, and on what date, in connection with the "hidden debts", which is one of the requirements of the extradition agreements to which South Africa and Mozambique are signatories

FMO, the organization that has advocated Manuel Chang's extradition to the U.S. since his arrest in South Africa, submitted on August 3 an urgent action to the South African judiciary requesting a review of South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola's decision.

On August 23, South African Justice Ministry spokesman Chrispin Phiri announced that South Africa has decided to extradite to Mozambique former Finance Minister Manuel Chang, who was arrested in South Africa in 2018 at the request of the United States for fraud and corruption in the "hidden debts" case

It is also known that in November 2020, the PGR also referred to the Judicial Court of Maputo City an autonomous case of "hidden debts" in which it accuses the former Minister of Finance Manuel Chang.

The debts were incurred between 2013 and 2014 from investment banks Credit Suisse and VTB by the Mozambican state-owned companies Proindicus, Ematum and MAM.