Algerian Customs Management set to purchase scanner worth tenfold its real price on the market

According to official documents possessed by the newspaper Echorouk, the General management of the Algerian customs services has been negotiating with the Swiss firm “SGS” the purchase of a costly scanner in order to ensure the control of goods and services at the port level as part of the import/export activities.

• This murky affair was already unveiled by the newspaper Echorouk in its edition n° 2694 published last Thursday.
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• According to well-informed sources from the customs services, the injunction to get into contact with the Swiss firm “SGS” stems from the customs General management which is ostensibly intent on going ahead with the deal against all odds.
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• The contacts with this Swiss firm go back to July 9th 2007 well before the publishing of the additional law of finance.
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• According to the same sources, “SGS” is said to be ready to supply this famous scanner but at a staggering price.
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• Its price has been set at 11.8 million dollars while its genuine price on the international market does not exceed 1.5 million dollars.
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• The huge price difference is thus of the order of 10.3 million dollars!!!
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• Numerous commentators expressed amazement at such a murky deal and at its smelly spin-offs.
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• The recourse to foreign firms to oversee through this technological equipment the Algerian import and export activities in Algeria itself, is seen by many observers as a blow dealt to the country’s sovereignty and a hurdle to Algerian managerial skills at the level of the customs services.
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