How five Boeing 777s linked Madagascar's power elite to Iran

A trial starting Tuesday in Antananarivo will put Madagascar’s most prominent defendant, 57-year-old tycoon Mamy Ravatomanga, at the center of an explosive corruption case involving five Boeing 777 aircraft routed to Iran. Prosecutors allege the planes used temporary Malagasy registrations to bypass multiple US sanctions, then reached Iran without physically entering the island, with investigators believing the registrations enabled them to transit international airspace before landing in July 2025. The jets are now registered to Iranian carrier Mahan Air. Ravatomanga, held in Mauritius, faces money laundering and influence-peddling charges and denies wrongdoing. Investigators say Ravatomanga received five million euros, while his lawyers dispute the figures.