A small victory for the Malagasy delegation in Comoros. The two Malagasy arrested with the 49 kg of gold seized on December 28 in Moroni were extradited yesterday to the country while the case of the traffickers arrested in South Africa is still pending.
The traffickers arrested in the Comoros arrived on the same flight as the Minister of Justice Imbiki Herilaza, while negotiations seemed to have stalled the day before.
After this case of gold trafficking in the Comoros, it was the case of the gold seized a year earlier in South Africa that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Patrick Rajoelina, spoke to the press yesterday. He announced that the South African authorities have responded positively to the examination of the extradition request from the Malagasy side for the case of the three traffickers arrested in this case. A little misunderstanding was expressed during the press conference because it is not the extradition itself that was accepted but only the examination of the extradition file. It can be said that in one year, the negotiations have not progressed much.
Unlike the French-speaking system, the English-speaking judicial system would be more complex and the procedures more cumbersome, which is why this case is dragging on, says Patrick Rajoelina. The legal procedures are underway and it will be necessary to wait for the outcome of the case at the level of the South African courts. The lawyers that the Malagasy party have hired are currently working hard on the case, said the head of the Malagasy diplomacy.
The repatriation of the 73,5 kg of gold seized will not be so soon. The Malagasy State will implement the necessary measures to ensure that our mining heritage returns to the country,” said Patrick Rajoelina. This is particularly the case for these gold bars intercepted in South Africa, or in the Seychelles and especially those recently seized in the Comoros.
Patrick Rajoelina also returned to the thorny issue of the Eparses Islands during his press conference. He affirmed that the State has not abandoned the battle. He mentioned the probable holding of the second meeting of the Franco-Malagasy joint commission on the Eparses Islands in the coming weeks. A second meeting planned since January 2020 but which never took place under the pretext of the Covid-19 epidemic.
