Malagasy tycoon Mamy Ravatomanga denied bail again in Mauritius

Malagasy tycoon Mamy Ravatomanga will stay in a Mauritian prison after a court refused his latest request for bail on Oct. 12, almost a year after he fled Madagascar during the uprising that toppled his longtime ally, former President Andry Rajoelina.

Magistrate Farook Nathire of the Bail and Remand Court in Port Louis ruled that the risks of Ravatomanga fleeing the island or interfering with evidence were too high to be managed by any conditions, however strict, L'Express reported. The magistrate pointed to the international reach of the investigation and to the two provisional money laundering charges, which involve about 7 billion Mauritian rupees, or roughly $150 million, and which the court said represent only part of the businessman's alleged assets.

His lawyers said they would challenge the decision in the Supreme Court and could take the case to the Privy Council in London, Mauritius's final court of appeal.

"Pretrial detention is becoming a punishment before trial," lead defense lawyer Kushal Lobine said, according to Afrik.com.

Court presses investigators

The court accepted that there were concerns about Ravatomanga's right to be tried within a reasonable time, but said the complexity of an investigation spanning several countries explained part of the delay. It urged the Financial Crimes Commission, the Mauritian agency handling the case, to finish its inquiry as quickly as possible.

Investigators have yet to take his statement on several strands of the case, including a wheat import deal and a motorway project, and have not put to him evidence on files involving lychee exports and Boeing 777 aircraft, L'Express said. A lawyer for the commission, Trishul Naga, told the court the risks were real rather than speculative. Ravatomanga is due back in court on Nov. 3.

His defense says he has not been questioned since December 2025 and that no trial date has been set. In support of his application, he offered to surrender his passports, live with his daughter, report regularly to the police and provide a Mauritian guarantor. His lawyers have also cited his health, saying he had two heart stents fitted in November 2025.

A year behind bars

Ravatomanga flew into Mauritius by private jet in October 2025, as Gen Z-led protests and a military takeover ended Rajoelina's rule. He was arrested at a private clinic on Oct. 24, 2025, and has been held ever since, most recently at Melrose high-security prison.

He faces two provisional charges of money laundering and one of conspiracy linked to influence peddling. The conspiracy charge stems from an Oct. 14, 2025 meeting with Junaid Fakim, a former commissioner of the Financial Crimes Commission, who was also arrested. Ravatomanga admits the meeting took place but denies trying to influence any investigation. The commission has obtained an order freezing about 7.3 billion rupees, or about $156 million, of his assets.

His first bail application was refused in December 2025, and the Supreme Court upheld that ruling in May, describing his ties to Mauritius as relatively weak and citing property in France and bank accounts in Madagascar, Seychelles, Dubai, France and the British Virgin Islands. A bid to take that decision to the Privy Council, led by British lawyer Geoffrey Cox, was dropped in July.

The banker of the Rajoelina era

Ravatomanga founded the Sodiat group in 1990 as a transport company and built it into one of Madagascar's largest conglomerates, with interests in Toyota distribution, aviation, security, media, construction, healthcare, property and hotels. Forbes ranked him among Madagascar's 10 richest people in 2017.

He was widely regarded as one of the two businessmen who financed Rajoelina's political rise, and his fortunes have turned with the former president's fall. Madagascar's new authorities have opened their own proceedings against him, including over lychee exports, and his defense argues that the change of government is behind the case against him.