The key facts

  • Five Boeing 777 received temporary Malagasy registrations and reached Iran in July 2025 without ever visiting Madagascar; they are now registered to Mahan Air.
  • Mamy Ravelomanana, an ally of ousted President Rajoelina, is charged with money laundering and influence peddling; prosecutors say he received 5 million euros, which his lawyers dispute.
  • A total of 28 people are on trial; Ravelomanana will remain in Mauritius, where courts have twice denied him bail.

The aircraft re-registration scheme

A court opens in Antananarivo on Tuesday in the case of five Boeing 777 that, through temporary Malagasy registrations, were transferred to Iran bypassing several US sanctions regimes. According to Madagascar's investigation, the registrations allowed the aircraft to cross international airspace before reaching Iran in July 2025. The aircraft were never physically in Madagascar. All five planes, originally purchased by Singapore Airlines in the early 2000s and later acquired by the Florida-registered company Ion Aviation, are now listed with the Iranian airline Mahan Air, according to the aviation website Planespotters' database. Two of the aircraft were directly affected by US Treasury sanctions announced in April: Washington accuses Mahan Air of involvement in acquiring and transporting drones and weapons.

Ravelomanana's role and the disputed sum

The central figure in the case is 57-year-old magnate Mamy Ravelomanana, once one of Madagascar's most influential businessmen and a close ally of ousted President Andry Rajoelina. He is charged with money laundering and influence peddling but is held in custody in Mauritius and denies guilt. According to the indictment obtained by AFP, co-accused Singh Kushwinder — suspected of being the real owner of the company used to register the aircraft — told investigators that Ravelomanana received five million euros from the operation. His lawyers dispute this, pointing to 'several contradictory versions of the prosecution': at a bail hearing in Mauritius, the figure cited was 5 million dollars, not euros.

International investigation and the Novotel meeting

Mauritius's anti-corruption body said a joint investigation by the FBI and Mauritius's Financial Crimes Commission produced witness statements, digital evidence and records supporting the prosecution. According to two sources familiar with the case, FBI agents who arrived in Madagascar questioned several of the accused. The prosecution cites photographs of an alleged meeting at the Novotel hotel in Antananarivo at which, it is claimed, Ravelomanana was present. According to Madagascar's anti-corruption agency, participants also included then transport minister Valery Ramonjavelo, head of the civil aviation authority Hervé Damase, Kushwinder and the Iranian Hamid Arabnejad. Arabnejad, whom US authorities have considered Mahan Air's CEO since 2013, has long been under US sanctions for 'efforts to evade Mahan Air sanctions and support for the IRGC-Qods Force.' Ravelomanana's defence said the 'alleged photographs' were never shown to the client and questioned their existence; the FBI declined to comment on the images at AFP's request.

Scale of the case and the defendants' fates

A total of 28 people are charged, including participants in the Novotel meeting and former Senate President Richard Ravalomanana. Ravelomanana himself will not be in the dock: days before the military coup that ousted Rajoelina in October 2025, he fled to Mauritius. His lawyer Kushal Lobin called his client's detention disproportionate: 'More than a year of pre-trial detention for what would at worst be a white-collar offence is unprecedented in Mauritius.' Courts have twice denied bail — most recently on 12 October over flight risk. One investigator said authorities feared Ravelomanana would vanish 'like Carlos Ghosn.' The comparison is no accident: the plane used in Ghosn's escape from Japan to Turkey belonged to TOA, a subsidiary of the Sodiat group, although on that flight it was operated by Turkey's MNG Jet.

Business empire and other investigations

Starting in 1990 with a transport company, Ravelomanana's Sodiat group grew into a conglomerate spanning car distribution, aviation, private security, media, construction, healthcare, real estate, hospitality, tourism and lucrative vanilla trading. French investigators previously examined his real estate near Paris in a case of alleged money laundering and rosewood trafficking, but in 2023 the proceedings were dropped for lack of evidence. A separate French investigation linked to exports of Madagascar lychees to the EU also touched on Ravelomanana; according to a judicial source cited by AFP, he was questioned in Mauritius this year in that case.