Romy Andrianarisoa, the former Chief of Staff to the President of Madagascar, has been sentenced following the release of audio clips exposing bribery in action between her and an associate, French national Philippe Tabuteau.
The pair were charged in August 2023 after they had tried to bribe Gemfields, a UK-based company that specialises in responsible mining of rubies and emeralds, in exchanging for getting them an exclusive mining joint venture with Madagascar’s government.
Romy was said to have spoken to the company through an introductory agent then attended some face-to-face meetings. However, Gemfields grew suspicious and highlighted potential corruption to the National Crime Agency, which launched an investigation using covert tactics, such as surveillance.
Now, some of the media captured during the investigation has been released. The first set of audio clips were recorded during a meeting in London where Romy and her associate asked for 250,000 Swiss Francs as payment for organising initiation of the collaboration and ensuring joint venture terms were signed. A success fee (a five per cent equity stake in the collaboration) and a ‘goodwill payment’ of 10,000 Swiss Francs were also requested.
During the meeting, Romy talked about her job and said that “there is my work in terms of supporting the government and the country in terms of development […], but there is also my work of, you know, earning my life”. She also highlighted the influence she had on the Madagascan government and her boss – the president – as chief of staff: “I’m very honest, but also very humble, the value of my words is what the boss is listening to.”
Further audio was revealed from a phonecall where Romy clarified the terms of the goodwill payment: “May I just tell you because I believe there is a misunderstanding but it’s important that we keep transparency, and direct conversation between us, because what I read in the contract was 10 for both of us, and what I was saying when I met you was 10 per capita. For Philippe, and myself.” Her defence was that her associate had told her what to say and she trusted him to act on her behalf because it was normal for Madagascar to outsource negotiations to foreign consultants and that she trusted Tabuteau to act on her behalf.
The last set of clips are from a further meeting in London where Romy admits that “Fiduciare is really the company that has been my screen for years”. Here, she is referring to a Swiss business that would receive the illegal funds. This time, her chief of staff influence was underlined by Philippe who said the President “won’t sign if Romy doesn’t say sign”.
In February, a jury found Romy guilty and this month she was given a jail sentence of three years and six months. Thomas Short, specialist economic crime prosecutor in the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Romy Andrianarisoa is a corrupt official who chose to enrich herself in the course of her public duties.”
