Algeria: caciques of the Bouteflika era, including the former boss of the bosses, heavily condemned

Text by: RFI Follow

Algerian businessman Ali Haddad, ex-boss of bosses, and several ministers linked to ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika were sentenced to heavy prison terms for corruption on Wednesday in Algiers, defense lawyer said. to AFP.

Publicity

Ali Haddad, ex-leader of the main Algerian employers' organization, the Forum of Company Managers (FCE), was sentenced to 18 years. Incarcerated since March 2019 , he was prosecuted for "  obtaining privileges, advantages and public contracts in violation of the law, squandering of public funds, abuse of office, conflict of interest and corruption in the conclusion of public contracts  ". His brothers, Omar, Meziane, Sofiane and Mohamed, were sentenced to four years' imprisonment. The Haddad family's property was seized.

Two former prime ministers of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal, who are already behind bars for other corruption scandals, were each sentenced to 12 years in prison. Finally, eight former ministers were given sentences ranging from two to 20 years in prison for Abdeslam Bouchouareb (former Minister of Industry and Mines), who is fleeing abroad.

"  This is a verdict whose political character is obvious,  " said Khaled Bourayou, the lawyer for Ali Haddad, who will appeal. “  The defendants were members of the old regime. They are paying the price of the vanquished,  "he said.

The shadow of the Bouteflika clan

During the trial, over which the shadow of the Bouteflika clan hung, defendants regretted the absence of the deposed, helpless and reclusive president, and his brother Said, the ex-influential adviser, in prison for "  conspiracy against the 'army and state authority  '.

Considered one of the main financiers of Abdelaziz Bouteflika's last election campaigns, Ali Haddad was sentenced on appeal at the end of March to four years in prison after another trial for corruption.

Founder and CEO of ETRHB, the first private construction company in Algeria and awarded gigantic public contracts, Ali Haddad appeared as one of the symbols of the troubled links between certain business circles and those around Adbelaziz Bouteflika. President of the FCE from 2014 to March 2019, he was arrested at a border post with Tunisia in possession of two passports. He was sentenced in June 2019 to six months in prison for illegal possession of the two travel documents.

The vast investigations for corruption and patronage launched after the resignation in April 2019 of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, under pressure from an unprecedented popular protest movement, the Hirak, have led to a series of trials still ongoing.

(With AFP)

Newsletter Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

Follow all international news by downloading the RFI application

• Algeria
• Abdelaziz Bouteflika

On the same subject

Algerian regime accused of taking advantage of health crisis to intimidate activists

Geopolitics the debate

Algeria: the return of the lead screed?