Land grabbing in Alasora : BIANCO dismantles a network of forgers – 8 detained, 6 under judicial supervision

Antananarivo, December 18, 2025 – The Independent Anti-Corruption Bureau (BIANCO) has completed a preliminary investigation exposing the workings of a large-scale fraud network.

Eight individuals, including public officials, have been placed in detention, while six others await trial under judicial supervision. This case underscores BIANCO’s steadfast commitment to combating land grabbing, one of its major strategic axes, in order to restore public trust in Land Administration Services in Madagascar.

The case originated from a complaint filed by the rightful heirs of a cadastral plot in Alasora. The fraud began with a farmer who, initially authorized to cultivate the land, forged a certificate of land improvement in January 2022. The forged document was knowingly validated by the local fokontany chief and complicit witnesses. The forged document passed from hand to hand until It then ended up in the hands of two applicants who, despite a “torn” and unusable land registry, used it to initiate a registration procedure at the Mobile Land Tribunal (Tribunal Terrier Ambulant – TTA).

The scandal deepened with the blatant involvement of officials: the TTA president, his clerk, and a land registrar turned a blind eye to the forgery in exchange for 10 million ariary. Charges include active and passive corruption, abuse of office, criminal conspiracy, stellionate, fraud, forgery, and use of forged documents forgery, and the offenses piled up. As a result, the TTA issued a ruling ordering the heirs to vacate the property in January 2025, and the fraudsters were granted registration.

BIANCO, uncompromising in its stance against these practices that undermine access to land, referred the case to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Anti-Corruption Unit in Antananarivo, on December 17. The result: eight detention orders target the TTA president, three tribunal members, the fokontany chief, the two beneficiaries, and the main fraudster, while six other suspects, including intermediaries, are placed under judicial supervision.

This operation sends a strong message from BIANCO, reaffirming its role as a bulwark against land grabbing, a scourge that deprives Malagasy families of their heritage. Investigations continue to dismantle these networks and prevent future abuses.