By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A former Mozambique finance minister was sentenced on Friday to 8-1/2 years in prison after being found guilty of participating in a fraud involving $2 billion in loans to three state-owned companies to develop the southern African country’s marine infrastructure.
Manuel Chang, 69, was convicted in August by a Brooklyn jury of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in the “tuna bonds” case, following a four-week trial.
In imposing the sentence, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis said he would recommend Chang be credited for the approximately six years he had been in custody awaiting trial, meaning he would be eligible to be released from U.S. prison and deported to Mozambique after 2-1/2 years.
“The victims trusted Mr. Chang to steward their investments and his country’s development in a corruption-free manner,” Garaufis said at Chang’s sentencing in Brooklyn federal court.
The case stemmed from $7 million prosecutors said Chang received in bribes from Emirati-Lebanese shipbuilding firm Privinvest, in exchange for his approving a Mozambique government guarantee for loans from banks including Credit Suisse to three state-backed companies.
The loans were meant to develop Mozambique’s fishing industry and improve maritime security, but the projects collapsed and the state-backed companies defaulted, leaving investors – including some in the United States – with millions of dollars in losses, prosecutors said.
Donors such as the International Monetary Fund temporarily halted support to Mozambique, triggering a currency collapse and financial turmoil.
The prosecutors had urged a sentence of 11-1/4 and 14 years in prison.
“For $7 million, he helped people loot his country,” prosecutor Jonathan Siegel said at the hearing.
Chang apologized, telling the court he thought at the time that the projects would be good for Mozambique, but has since come to realize his actions were wrong.
“I deeply regret the damages that I caused,” Chang said through a Portuguese interpreter.
Chang plans to appeal his conviction, his lawyer Adam Ford said after the hearing.
Chang’s lawyers had sought no prison time, in part because their client had already spent around six years in custody, including four years imprisoned in South Africa while awaiting extradition, and more than a year at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
“He has been punished enough,” Ford said at the hearing.
Credit Suisse, since taken over by UBS, agreed in 2021 to pay about $475 million to American and British authorities to resolve bribery and fraud charges related to the scandal. A European subsidiary pleaded guilty in the United States to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Last month, London’s High Court denied Privinvest permission to appeal its ruling that Mozambique could collect more than $825 million from Privinvest’s late owner and his companies. Privinvest intends to appeal, its lawyer said.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Additional reporting by Sam Tobin in London; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Daniel Wallis)
