Malagasy tycoon Mamy Ravatomanga faces trial Tuesday over five Boeings flown to Iran

Malagasy tycoon Mamy Ravatomanga, the founder of the Sodiat conglomerate and a close ally of former President Andry Rajoelina, goes on trial in Madagascar on Tuesday over five Boeing 777 jets that were registered in the country and later flown to Iran.

The case resumes on Oct. 27 before the anti-corruption court in Antananarivo, the capital, where 28 people and five companies face charges that include money laundering, corruption, abuse of office, forgery of public documents and undermining state sovereignty. Ravatomanga, 57, is charged with money laundering and influence peddling. He will not be in the dock. He has been held in Mauritius for a year and denies wrongdoing.

The court opened the trial on Sept. 22 and adjourned it to Tuesday, saying it was waiting for responses to summonses sent to Ravatomanga and to Madagascar's civil aviation authority, and for the results of a digital investigation.

What prosecutors allege

The five aircraft, once owned by Ion Aviation, a Florida company, and parked in China, received temporary Malagasy registration in 2025. They never landed in Madagascar. In July 2025 they were flown to Iran, where they now fly for Mahan Air, an airline under U.S. sanctions. Madagascar's civil aviation authority later said its authorisations had expired and that documents had been falsified. The U.S. Treasury in April imposed sanctions on two of the jets, accusing Mahan Air of helping to spread Iranian drones.

Khushwinder Singh, an Indian businessman and co-defendant suspected of being the real owner of the Malagasy company used to register the planes, says Ravatomanga received 5 million euros ($5.6 million). His defence notes that Mauritius's Financial Crimes Commission put the figure at $5 million, in dollars, at a bail hearing. The commission alleges Ravatomanga received that sum from the sale of the aircraft. He disputes it.

The commission, which investigated with help from the FBI, says it holds witness statements, digital evidence and recordings. One allegation centres on photographs said to show a meeting at the Novotel hotel in Antananarivo attended by Ravatomanga, Singh, former Transport Minister Valéry Ramonjavelo and Hamid Arabnejad, an Iranian national under U.S. sanctions since 2013. Ravatomanga's lawyers say the photograph was never shown to him.

His answers in Mauritius

On Oct. 7, Ravatomanga was taken under police escort from Melrose high-security prison to Mauritius's Supreme Court, where he swore before Master and Registrar Wendy Rangan to an affidavit answering written questions sent by Madagascar about the Boeing case. The questions came through a request for legal assistance, under a court order dated May 25.

His lawyer, Khushal Lobine, said Ravatomanga disputes several points in the questions and accused investigators of "fabrications de preuves," or fabricating evidence. Lobine said his client may take legal action against the state, certain people and authorities at a time of his choosing, to clear his name and reputation. Mauritius's Attorney General's Office is due to give its position on the answers at a hearing on Monday, Oct. 26.

Ravatomanga flew into Mauritius by private jet in October 2025, as protests and a military takeover ended Rajoelina's rule. The Financial Crimes Commission arrested him at a private clinic on Oct. 24, 2025. In Mauritius he faces two provisional money-laundering charges and a conspiracy charge linked to alleged influence peddling, all of which he contests. A court has frozen about 7.3 billion Mauritian rupees ($156 million) of his assets, an order he is challenging.

A magistrate in Port Louis refused his latest bail request on Oct. 12, after an earlier request was rejected in December 2025. The judge found that the risks of flight and of interference with evidence could not be managed by any conditions. His lawyers have said he will appeal.

The Sodiat empire

Ravatomanga founded Sodiat in 1990 as a transport company. It grew into one of Madagascar's largest business groups, with interests in Toyota distribution, aviation, security, media, construction, healthcare, property, hotels and vanilla. He was among Madagascar's 10 richest people in 2017 and was widely seen as one of two businessmen who financed Rajoelina's rise.

Investigators in Mauritius are also examining his role in lychee exports, wheat imports, a motorway project in Antananarivo and the Madarail railway concession. He has not been convicted of any offence in either country.

Billionaires.Africa reported on the charges over the five Boeings in September and on his latest bail refusal in Mauritius this month.