This follows the assertion by Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu that Manuel Chang, who has been held in Johannesburg since last December  will be returned to Mozambique.

US Assistant Secretary of State Tibor Nagy says in a telephone interview today that Washington expects South Africa to honor its 20-year-old agreement with the US and extradite Manuel Chang.

He’s wanted in the US for his part in a one-point-two-billion dollar fraud involving the purchase of fishing boats and surveillance vessels.

South Africa’s foreign minister Lindiwe Sisulu said in an interview with a website news blog that the easiest thing for everyone would be to return Chang to Mozambique once the court in Kempton Park has dispensed with the US extradition request.  

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Chang, who was arrested at Oliver Tambo International Airport last December on is way to Dubai, argues that he’s being held unlawfully held  and that extradition to the US would be illegal.

Kempton Park Magistrate Sagra Subroyen says her job is not determine whether Manuel Chang is guilty of the $2-billion fraud charges awaiting him in the United States together with charges of securities and wire fraud and money laundering.

She simply has to determine whether the man who headed Mozambique’s finances between 2005 and 2015 he is a candidate for bail.

She says Chang has lied about his finances and would not be returned for extradition by Mozambique authorities.

She maintains releasing him would  undermine South Africa’s criminal justice system. 

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