Madagascar Trial Over Five Boeing 777s Routed to Iran's Mahan Air Targets Tycoon Mamy Ravatomanga
Why It MattersSanctions evasion through temporary flag-of-convenience registrations is drawing criminal prosecution of small-state aviation authorities, raising the compliance bar for any aircraft registration, transfer or ferry arrangement involving sanctioned carriers.
A trial opens Tuesday in Antananarivo over five Boeing 777s that were routed to Iran through temporary Malagasy registrations to circumvent multiple US sanctions. The most prominent defendant is Mamy Ravatomanga, 57, once one of Madagascar's most influential businessmen and a close ally of deposed president Andry Rajoelina. He is held in Mauritius and faces accusations of money laundering and influence peddling. In total, 28 people are being prosecuted, including participants in a meeting at the Novotel hotel in Antananarivo and former Senate president Richard Ravalomanana.
The planes, now registered to Iranian carrier Mahan Air, never physically entered Madagascar. Malagasy investigators believe the registration allowed them to transit international airspace before reaching Iran in July 2025. Originally bought by Singapore Airlines in the early 2000s, the jets were parked in China after being acquired by Ion Aviation, a Florida-registered company. All five are now listed as belonging to Mahan Air, according to a Planespotters database. Two were specifically targeted by US Treasury sanctions announced in April.
According to an indictment obtained by AFP, co-defendant Singh Khushwinder, suspected of being the true owner of the company used to register the aircraft in Madagascar, told investigators that Ravatomanga received five million euros from the operation. His lawyers dispute this, citing "several inconsistent versions of the allegations", including a reference to $5 million rather than euros at a Mauritian bail hearing. Madagascar's anti-corruption unit says participants in the Novotel meeting included then transport minister Valery Ramonjavelo, civil aviation authority head Gervais Damasy, Khushwinder, and Iranian national Hamid Arabnejad. US authorities have identified Arabnejad since 2013 as Mahan Air's chief executive and have long sanctioned him for overseeing the airline's sanctions-evasion efforts. Ravatomanga's lawyers say the photographs from the meeting have never been shown to the defence.
Ravatomanga's Sodiat Group began in 1990 as a transport company and grew into a conglomerate spanning automotive distribution, aviation, private security, media, construction, healthcare, real estate, hospitality, tourism and the vanilla trade. His attorney Khushal Lobine called more than a year of pre-trial detention for what he described as, at worst, white-collar offences "unprecedented in Mauritius". Mauritian courts rejected two bail requests, most recently on October 12, citing flight-risk concerns. The jet used in Carlos Ghosn's escape from Japan to Turkey belonged to TOA, a Sodiat Group subsidiary, though it was operated by Turkish company MNG Jet at the time.
