5-Year Prison Sentence For Air Algérie Employees

The Public Prosecution Office at the Misdemeanor Court in Sidi M’hamed requested, on Sunday, the imposition of sentences ranging from 3 to 5 years against the accused in the corruption case that affected the management of social services at Air Algérie.
The Public Prosecutor requested a 5-year sentence against the main accused in the case, namely the Secretary-General of the union and the head of the Participation Committee at Air Algérie, named “T.S.”, and each of the member of the Executive Office of the Participation Committee and the head of the Social Services Committee at the same company, in addition to the owner of the “Tourism and Travel” travel agency “M.K.”, while the representative of the public right requested a 3-year prison sentence against the rest of the accused.
The 11 defendants in the current case, including 9 employees of Air Algérie, were prosecuted before the Sidi M’hamed court, for the facts of granting contracts by mutual consent to a travel and tourism agency, organizing travel and recreational trips for the benefit of Air Algérie workers in suspicious ways, as well as inflating the bills for the company’s workers’ accommodation in countries such as Tunisia and Turkey, in addition to the Emirate of Dubai. The investigating judge at the Sidi M’hamed court has charged 11 defendants in the current case with serious charges ranging from awarding contracts in violation of legislative provisions, abuse of office, clear negligence leading to the loss of public or private funds, accepting an advantage, and participating in the forgery of commercial documents stipulated and punishable by the Anti-Corruption and Prevention Law 01/06.
The facts, according to the referral order issued by the investigating judge at the Sidi M’hamed court, date back to October 2022, when the National Office for the Suppression of Corruption received a complaint signed by three workers from Air Algérie against the Secretary-General of the union, the head of the Participation Committee of the same company, named “T.S”, and each of the member of the Executive Office of the Participation Committee and the head of the Social Services Committee, including possible violations that may have been committed in the management of social services funds for the company’s workers, accompanied by the accounting reports for the years 2017 and 2018, as well as the internal regulations of the Participation Committee and some laws relating to the travel and tourism agency “M.K”.
On this basis, an investigation was opened, where the investigation services of the National Office for the Suppression of Corruption directed the Director of Legal Affairs and Insurance at the airline company to provide it with a copy of the internal regulations governing the conclusion of contracts in the company, in addition to a copy of the file of agreements concluded by the Participation Committee with the “M.K” Tourism and Travel Agency, and the “A” tourist complex in the state of Boumerdes, in addition to providing it with the reports of the auditor from 2016 to 2021 as well as the financial and literary reports of the Participation Committee from 2016 to 2021 and the agreement to grant the management of social services to the Participation Committee.
When the whistleblowers were heard about the facts of the case, they stated that there were wholesale violations in the way the funds of the Participation Committee of the Algerian Airlines Company were managed, during the term of the Chairman of the Committee, who is currently at the Mustapha Pacha Hospital, along with the Chairman of the Contracts Committee and a number of its members in the same company, in collusion with the “M.K” Tourism and Travel Agency, represented in inflating the bills for the company’s workers’ accommodation in various regions such as Tunisia, Turkey and the Emirate of Dubai, for the purpose of travel and recreation, in exchange for receiving benefits and gifts represented in travel and accommodation in luxury hotels in these countries with their families and relatives.
In addition, there is the forgery of residence receipts and travel visas and the work of issuing fake invoices in the name of the workers of the Algerian Airlines Company, as well as the forgery of the duration of residence there, with the granting of the “M.K” Tourism and Travel Agency an agreement to organize travel and recreational trips for the benefit of the workers of the Algerian Airlines Company for a period of 5 years in suspicious ways, while there are agencies that provide better services at competitive prices, and this without respecting the regulations in force in how to select the operators.
Another violation is the provision of treatment for them and their families from the financial account of the participating committee, and investigations have also revealed that the work of the participating committee is being carried out outside the legal frameworks because the term of the term has expired, as its legal terms are 3 years from the date of its approval, and the matter was carried out in collusion with the former CEO of the airline company, due to the existence of a common interest, represented in the exchange of benefits between them.
On the other hand, there are individuals from the company whose names were placed on the invoices as having benefited from the services of this agency, while they did not actually benefit from them and have no knowledge at all about the subject, and some of them do not even have a passport.