Tuesday evening, in London, the former chief of staff of President Andry Rajoelina was found guilty of corruption by the British courts for having demanded bribes from a United Kingdom mining company in exchange for an operating license mining. This close friend of the Malagasy president was arrested in flagrante delicto of corruption at the beginning of August in London, with her French associate. She faces up to ten years in prison.
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With our correspondent in Antananarivo, Sarah Tétaud
“ I never requested payment for myself “, Romy Andrianarisoa, 47, told the jury at Southwark Crown Court, according to comments reported by Reuters.
A defense which clearly did not convince the London court. Last night, Andry Rajoelina’s former chief of staff was declared ” guilty of corruption » with the one presented as his associate, Philippe Tabuteau, at the end of a secret investigation carried out by the National Crime Agency, the British agency fighting crime.
The jury accuses them of having sought, between 2021 and 2023, to obtain $310,000 from Gemfields, a British company specializing in the extraction of rubies and emeralds, and a 5% stake in the subsidiary operating mines at Madagascarin exchange for mining licenses.
“ Romy Andrianarisoa is a corrupt civil servant who chose to enrich himself in the exercise of his public functions », Estimated prosecutor Thomas Short, according to his comments reported by AFP.
Romy Andrianarisoa, working with President Andry Rajoelina when he was arrested last August, pleaded not guilty at a hearing in September. The former advisor to the Malagasy head of state has since been imprisoned in the United Kingdom. Her sentence will be known on March 18: she faces up to ten years in prison.