Cash Smuggling Crimes Towards Neighboring Countries Rise During The Covid19 Crisis

Currency exchange crimes witnessed a remarkable increase, compared to last year, despite the economic stagnation and the COVID19 pandemic, as many issues related to currency smuggling were addressed at the level of the specialized penal pole and the Constantine Judicial Council (eastern Algeria), while some cases remain under national investigation, the head of the Constantine Judicial Council, Issa Besbassi, said.

“Currency exchange crimes are among the most serious crimes that affect the national economy and cause depletion of the public treasury”, he added.

“The increase in the number of cash exchange crimes in the recent period is mainly due to some people who tried to exploit the Corona pandemic to smuggle hard currency and even the Algerian dinar abroad, especially towards Tunisia, Morocco and France. Many issues related to this matter are brought before the specialized penal pole or the judicial councils, especially in some border cities. These crimes are often involving Algerians residing abroad or even in the homeland, and their crimes are sometimes discovered due to inflated bills that are processed at the level of customs inspectorates, and some other operations that are seized at the level of land border checkpoints in the east or west, ports and airports as well”.

In his intervention during the workdays organized by the Constantine Judicial Council, Issa Besbassi focused on cash exchange crimes in Algerian legislation, on the seriousness of this type of crime on the national economy and its impact on the national currency.

The Assistant Public Prosecutor at Al-Khroub Court (Constantine) Sader Mohamed Essedik, said in his intervention that these crimes harm the national economy and the exchange reserves and are mainly represented in transferring revenues abroad, which is prohibited by law, and some investors do not respect what the banking system requires them to do through recovering the proceeds within four months.

“The preservation of the national economy requires the process of bank localization and the supply of hard currency exporters by banks. The cush smuggling crimes recently increased, this is why it is addressed and combated because of the danger it poses to the national economy”.

This study day, according to the assistant public prosecutor at the Constantine Judicial Council, Faisal Bouakkal, comes within the framework of a series of forums that the council organized to exchange experiences with partners and open up to the external environment, to obtain the advantages of the field training for judges, especially since the school day was attended by the judges and representatives of banks, the Customs Directorate and the various actors in the field, who came up with comprehensive recommendations that will be submitted to the competent authorities.