One year after the discovery of five Boeing 777-200ER aircraft in Iran, still bearing administrative records linked to Madagascar, the Malagasy judiciary began the trial of 33 suspects on Tuesday, September 22. At the center of the case are provisional documents issued by Madagascar for a shipment and maintenance in Kenya, which prosecutors claim were used in a scheme that transported the five aircraft from Cambodia to Iran, where they were later associated with Mahan Air, an Iranian airline under U.S. sanctions. The case has become one of the most significant aviation and financial scandals in Madagascar, raising questions about how these aircraft, never operated on the island, received official documents from the Malagasy civil aviation authority before ending up in Iran. The Antananarivo Anti-Corruption Pole (PAC) is prosecuting 33 individuals and entities, with charges ranging from corruption and forgery to money laundering, association with criminals, abuse of function, and endangering the state's security. The aircraft involved were five former Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-200ER planes. These long-range aircraft were part of a complex chain of transactions and transfers, with Madagascar serving as an administrative link rather than an operational base. The planes were given provisional Malagasy registrations with the prefix "5R" and were assigned to Udaan Aviation, a company that claimed it would operate the aircraft in Madagascar. Udaan Potentials Ltd, the company behind this project, was registered in Antananarivo in 2023 with a broad scope, covering aviation, aquaculture, trade, and the export of local products. Its declared capital was 2 million Ariary, or less than 400 euros, a small amount compared to the costs of maintaining and operating five Boeing 777 aircraft. The timeline of events is central to the trial. The Malagasy Civil Aviation Authority (ACM) admitted to issuing two provisional documents to Udaan Aviation on January 17, 2025: a registration certificate and a certificate of airworthiness. These were supposed to allow the transportation of the aircraft, then based in China, to Kenya for maintenance. However, the aircraft did not reach Kenya during the three-month validity period. They were later seen in Cambodia before departing from the Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport on July 15, 2025, heading to several Iranian airports. The ACM claims that after the documents expired, they were forged by altering the validity dates to extend them to July 12, 2025. The authority was alerted by Cambodian authorities in June 2025 about suspicious documents related to three of the aircraft and then filed a complaint for "forgery and use of forged documents." The reconstructed operational path includes a provisional Malagasy registration for a planned transfer to Kenya, the subsequent presence in Cambodia, and the eventual departure of the five aircraft to Iran. If confirmed, this would show the use of expired or forged documents in an international aircraft movement. The trial aims to determine the extent of involvement by officials, intermediaries, and companies in the scheme. Madagascar is not only accusing private actors of misusing its documents but also investigating the roles of officials in the aviation administration and the business networks involved.