A petition from a prominent firm of lawyers in New York on 8 June entered the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, in Brooklyn, requesting from judge Nicholas G. Garaufis, “permission to move to dismiss the indictment because the Prosecution’s delay of Mr. Chang’s trial has violated his right to a speedy trial.
This is the start of a new battle in the long legal struggle of Manuel Chang to block his extradition to the USA.
The petition submitted by Chang’s defence to the US court shows that the former Mozambique Minister of Finance is willing to fight against his extradition to the USA, and that, eventually, he does not intend to confess to the crimes of which he is charged or to benefit from a possible plea bargain, as happens in the US.
On the contrary, Chang shows that he wants to use his financial resources to attempt to obtain an acquittal from a jury, instead of reaching an agreement with the US Justice Department. Chang is accused of receiving between 5 and 7 million dollars in bribes from Privinvest and seems prepared to use this money to hire good lawyers for his defence. According to the prosecution, Chang’s money was transferred to foreign bank accounts, and so it remains available to him.
