Ex-Finance Minister, 8 execs, officials indicted by U.S. over $2B fraud

The U.S. Justice Department indicted Mozambique's former finance minister, along with eight executives, officials and investment bankers, over their alleged roles in a $2 billion fraud and money laundering scheme, the department said on Thursday.

The alleged co-conspirators arranged for more than $2 billion in loans intended to fund three maritime projects, but diverted more than $200 million in loan proceeds in bribe payments to former Finance Minister Manuel Chang and other officials and kickback payments to three investment bankers, the department said.