Ex-Mozambican Minister jailed for 'tuna bond' fraud

A New York court has sentenced former Mozambican Finance Minister Manuel Chang to eight-and-a-half years' imprisonment for his role in the ‘tuna bond’ fraud and bribery scam more than a decade ago. The Daily Maverick reports that US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis also ordered Chang to pay $7m in forfeiture, as well as restitution to victims of his crimes. Garaufis said the restitution amount would be determined later. He said he would recommend that Chang be credited for the six years he had already spent in prison in SA and the US, Reuters reported. As a result, he would be eligible to be released from a US prison after 30 months in prison and deported to Mozambique. Prosecutors had sought a longer sentence of up to 14 years, while Chang’s lawyers pleaded for no jail time because of the six years he had already served.

Chang was arrested at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport in December 2018. The DM reports after a long battle in the SA courts, Chang was extradited to the US in July 2023. In a four-week trial in Brooklyn in July and August 2024 he was convicted of conspiring to commit wire fraud and money laundering. The court found that between 2013 and 2016 he had received $7m in bribes in exchange for signing guarantees on behalf of the Mozambican Government for three bank loans totalling more than $2bn to three Mozambique Government companies – Proindicus, Ematum and MAM – to buy fishing and patrol boats from Privinvest, a UAE-based shipbuilding company. ‘In fact, however, Chang and his co-conspirators facilitated the criminal diversion of more than $200m of the loan proceeds that were used to pay bribes and kickbacks to Chang and others,’ said the US Attorney’s Office on Friday.

Full Daily Maverick report