Two relatives of Comorian President Azali Assoumani were sentenced Thursday, October 27 to seven years in prison in the so-called gold bullion case, around a vast traffic between the Comoros and Madagascar discovered almost a year ago. .
The former director of Comorian airports, Yasser Ali Assoumani, close to the president who is often criticized for his authoritarian excesses, as well as Fardi Harifadja Abodo, a customs officer with the build of a boxer and son of the prosecutor of the Supreme Court, the highest court from the Indian Ocean archipelago, were the prime suspects. A heavy fine had been demanded but no prison.
Island traffic
During the colorful trial at the end of September in Moroni, in a packed courtroom, the president of the court brandished the main piece of evidence: a cooler. At the end of December, two Madagascans and a Comorian leaving for Dubai were arrested at Moroni airport. 49 kg of bullion are found in their luggage before boarding a private jet waiting for them on the tarmac.
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Their arrest allows investigators to bring to light a vast island traffic: in three months, eleven trips between the Comoros and Madagascar, separated by less than 800 km, made it possible to illegally transport suspected large quantities of the precious metal. According to the investigators, the gold left Madagascar aboard banal fishing boats, hidden in coolers normally filled with fish.
seven prison farm
Owner of a speedboat, Fardi Harifadja Abodo would have played the role of smuggler, recovering goods off the Comoros to bring them back to dry land. The gold was then to transit on board private planes to buyers abroad.
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In July, Madagascar had suspended the Moroni-Antananarivo service provided by Air Madagascar, classifying the line “red traffic material“. The nine defendants in total in this case had denied en bloc during the trial: five men, including the two main suspects, were sentenced to seven years and a fine of 2,000 euros, two others to five years and two others released.