| The arrival of the suspects, escorted by customs officers, at the Anti-Corruption Center on Thursday. |
Preventive detention was ordered by the Anti-Corruption Center against two employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and an individual, involved in gold trafficking.
Straight to the Tsiafahy prison. This establishment intended to imprison serious convicted criminals, but also defendants, welcomed three entrants during the night from Thursday to yesterday.
Two of these new detainees, concerned by a committal warrant issued by the Anti-Corruption Unit, work within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE). The other is the one who was entrusted with the transport of a diplomatic bag containing several gold bars (53.7 kg) intercepted at Ivato International Airport.
It is for this trafficking that they were sent behind bars, escorted by customs officers, from the 67 ha to Tsiafahy. A head of department of the chancellery in the same ministry, also involved in this affair, is still on the run.
Complaint
A search notice aimed at finding him was launched by the central service for combating forgeries, fraud and counterfeiting, attached to the Economic Police directorate. A complaint has already been filed against him by the MAE, which claims to be extremely outraged by his actions: forgery, use of forgery and usurpation of office.
It was he who issued authorizations for the so-called diplomatic cargo, according to information provided this week by the Ministry of Communication and Culture.
The customs administration emphasized that the trafficker had planned to take an Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 852 to Dubai via Addis Ababa on Monday. His diplomatic bag betrayed him when he had to pass through the control of agents stationed in the “under-customs” zone. Now authorities are looking for the signatory of the fake documents.
This month alone, a total of 67.565 kg of gold was removed from a series of illicit export attempts and deposited with the Central Bank, according to explanations provided by the General Directorate of Customs, which welcomes the fruitful result of its recent “tactical meeting”.
Gustave Mparany
