Nine people were sentenced Friday, December 16 in Madagascar in the case of trafficking 73 kilos of gold seized in South Africa, including three Malagasy in absentia. In January 2021, they were arrested during an air transit in Johannesburg towards Dubai in possession of gold bars. They receive a 10-year prison sentence and a fine, along with two other convicts, of just over 52 billion ariary (about 11 million euros).
From our correspondent in Antananarivo,
Detained in Johannesburg, the three Malagasy nationals were sentenced for ” illicit transport and export of mineral substances ” and ” fakes and uses of fakes in public writing. Arrest warrants against them have been issued, indicates the prosecutor of the anti-corruption pole.
The Malagasy government is still seeking to extradite the three men to the Big Island. ” We are still negotiating directly with the South African judiciary since we have no mutual legal assistance cooperation with South Africa, informed the Minister of Justice François Rakotozafy. As we do not have the same judicial system, we are therefore obliged to follow the procedure at home », he indicates.
” We maintain that the gold comes from Madagascar “, continues the Minister of Justice, while the South African authorities have not yet granted the request of the Malagasy State for the repatriation of gold on the island.
The civil society platform, Alliance Voahary Gasy, says to itself “ satisfied that some people connected to this case have been sentenced », « but we never get to the sponsors of these illicit exports of our natural resources », deplores its president, Ndranto Razakamanarina. ” For example, the High Court of Justice never works because there are texts that really prevent to apprehend the real sponsors of these cases of big sell-offs of natural resources in Madagascar », he continues.
The two pilots of the plane used to transport the ingots were sentenced to two years in prison for complicity in the export and transport of mineral substances. The former secretary general of civil aviation in Madagascar was fined 10 million ariary (about 2,123 euros) for abuse of office. 16 other people were released.
► Read also : Madagascar: the annual report of the Court of Auditors pinpoints the management of the gold sector