Current Minister, Chakib Khelil, And 5 Sonatrach Managers To Be Tried In “Saipem” Scandal Case

• An investigative judge in the first chamber of the National Pole Court specialized in combating economic and financial crime of Sidi M’hamed of Algiers is proceeding to open a heavy corruption file related to the “Sonatrach” group and “Saipem”, the branch of the Italian energy company “Eni”.

The case dragged a current minister, who was an advisor to the former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 5 former managers and a large number of executives of the largest hydrocarbons complex in Algeria, in addition to the minister who fled justice Chakib Khelil, alongside his sons and his wife, as well as fugitive Farid Bedjaoui.

• In details in the possession of “Echorouk”, the file was transferred by the Supreme Court to the First Chamber of the National Financial and Economic Pole of Sidi M’hamed, after the investigating advisor placed the the former Director-General, Noureddine Charwati, under judicial control.

The judge also ordered the placement of Former president and general manager of Sonatrach, Abdelhafid Foghouli, under pre-trial detention, while issuing an international arrest warrant for the former Minister of Energy and Mines, Chakib Khelil, as well as Mohamed Bayou, who is at large in Britain.

• The investigative judge in the first chamber of the Financial and Economic Pole will continue the investigation into the file pertaining to the “Sonatrach” complex and “Saipem”, the branch of the Italian energy company “Eni”.

The case is related to the conclusion of several suspicious deals, such as the awarding of the deal to complete the liquefied natural gas complex in Arzew in western Oran province, known as GNL 3 involving, a current minister and several Sonatrach senior executives.

•The defendants are being pursued in the case with heavy charges related to granting privileges, concluding suspicious deals and receiving bribes worth more than 200 million euros, as well as conflict of interests and a number of other charges contained in the Criminal Procedures Law and the Anti-Corruption and Prevention Law 06/01, within the framework of the investigation of several deals that were concluded between the Sonatrach group and “Saipem” through its subsidiaries in Algeria, “Saipem Contracting Algéria”, in addition to the “Sanam Projetti” company.

The defendants were summoned by the investigating advisor to the Supreme Court in Algeria on October 16 and 21, 2019.

• It should be noted that the Italian Court of Appeal has finally acquitted the company “Saipem” of the charges against it of providing bribes to executives of Sonatrach and Algerian government officials to clinch oil and gas deals, as part of the so-called “bribery of 200 million euros”, as widely reported in the press.

Officials of Saipem and the Algerian trio, Farid Bedjaoui, Omar Habour and Samir Uriad, were acquitted in the process.
• The acquittal of Saipem came, according to what was reported by the Italian newspaper “La Repubblica” last Monday, by the Court of Appeal, which rejected the appeal that the Public Prosecutor in the same court had filed on June 12 to reject the acquittal ruling that it benefited from in the first instance in January 2020.

• According to the same source, the new acquittal ruling is considered final and will result in the suspension of the decision to confiscate the financial value of the supposed bribes, which amounted to 197 million euros, and the cancellation of the fine imposed on them, estimated at 400 thousand euros.

• The Appeal Court held that, given the hypothesis of international corruption, there are no administrative violations stipulated in Legislative Decree 231/2001.