Algeria: “Haddad, Tahkout And Oulmi Before The Supreme Court Again”

The Indictment Chamber of the Supreme Court is to determine the cassation appeals submitted by the defense counsels of businessmen Mahieddine Tahkout, Ali Haddad, Mourad Oulmi, and the former prime ministers Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdel-Malek Sellal as well as several ministers of various sectors and several Walis or governors of the republic and the rest of the accused by next May.

“Echorouk” learned that the first file programmed in the Indictment Chamber of the Supreme Court will be the file of businessman Mahieddine Tahkout on May 10th 2021, where the appeal will be decided by cassation in the judgments issued by the Criminal Chamber of the First Chamber of the Algerian Judicial Council.

– Initially scheduled for 21 to 28 October, the trial of businessman Mahieddine Tahkout was postponed by the Algiers court. In the first instance, the businessman was sentenced to 16 years in prison and fined 8 million dinars. In the first instance, the businessman was sentenced to 16 years in prison and fined 8 million dinars, notably for “money laundering”, “obtaining undue privileges”, “wasting public funds”, “abuse of office” and “conflicts of interest”.

– Prosecuted in the same case, the two former prime ministers Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal were sentenced in first instance to 10 years in prison. The former Minister of Industry, Abdesslam Bouchouareb, also implicated, was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison.

On Wednesday 21 October, the Court of Algiers rendered its verdict in the appeal of Sovac’s boss, Mourad Oulmi. The judge maintained the sentence handed down in the first instance: ten years in prison and a fine of 8 million dinars (DA) for ‘money laundering and inciting public officials to exploit their influence’.

Implicated in the same case, the brother of the businessman, Khider Oulmi, and former Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, received a reduction of two years each. They are respectively sentenced to 5 and 10 years in prison.

As for the former Minister of Industry Youcef Yousfi and the former CEO of Crédit populaire d’Algérie (CPA Bank), Omar Boudiab, both received two years in prison, one of which is firm.

– As regards the appeal trial of Ali Haddad, which lasted eight days – from 14 to 21 October – the Algiers Court of Appeal will render its decision shortly- .

– In the first instance, in July, the former head of the forum of business leaders (FCE) was sentenced to 18 years in prison and a fine of 8 million DA. All his assets were confiscated. As for the former prime ministers, Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal, they were sentenced to 13 years in prison and a fine of one million dinars each.

Of the forty-eight ‘corruption’ cases conveyed to the Supreme Court under the procedure related to jurisdictional privilege, only six were closed and referred to the Algiers court.