Algeria: heavy sentences for the Kouninef family, close to ex-president Bouteflika

The entrance to the Algiers court.

(Illustration) RYAD KRAMDI / AFP

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It was the fifth major corruption trial in Algeria since the fall of Abdelaziz Bouteflika: that of the Kouninef brothers delivered its verdict on Wednesday. 

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If the three Kouninef brothers entered prison on the same day, April 24, 2019, they will not come out on the same date.

Reda, Noah-Tarek, and Abdelkarder-Karim, were sentenced to 16, 15 and 12 years respectively in prison following their trial which took place between September 9 and 14.

The court ordered the seizure of their property in Algeria and abroad.

Sister Kouninef, on the run abroad, was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison.

The Kouninef family is at the head of the KouGC group, specializing in construction, which benefited during the Bouteflika era from major public contracts.

The judges found the three businessmen guilty of an impressive number of embezzlements. 

This is the fifth major corruption trial since the fall of Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

In all,

, ministers and administrative officials are in the grip of justice for what is considered one of the largest anti-corruption operations ever launched in Algeria.

In July,

, former boss of the bosses and financier of Bouteflika's election campaigns, was sentenced to eighteen years in prison.

According to the Algerian press, the state estimates that the corruption of oligarchs and politicians has cost the country the equivalent of 70 billion dollars in twenty years.

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• Algeria

• Abdelaziz Bouteflika

• Justice