Dismissals Go On By Leaps And Bounds!…

Despite the fact that more than a month has passed since the serious and flabbergasting development marked by the discovery of 701 tons of cocaine seized at the port of Oran (western Algeria), there’s still a lingering shadow cast over the case.
The arrests have thus continued, targeting officials in many sectors and institutions, confirming rumors and leaks.
The most recent of these arrests concerned the national police sector. In this connection, a decision was just taken by the new Director General of the National Security, Colonel Mustafa Lahbiri, ending the duties of the Chief of Security of the province of Oran, high-ranking Police officer Saleh Nouasri and the nomination of Abdelmalek Boumesbahi as his successor.
The released statement on the matter did not mention the whys and wherefores of the dismissal, something that the decision-makers used to do in such occasions.
However, observers linked the termination of Nouasri’s duties to the aftershocks of what became known as the somber “Kamel al-Bouchi affair” in connection with the recent much-publicized cocaine seizure, which toppled many heads.
The repercussions of this issue began known with the recent sacking of the Director General of National Security, Major General Abdelghani Hamel, and this unexpected development surprised many observers considering the political weight of the man and his close proximity to the sources of decision-making.
Hamel was removed from his post after he declared in a press statement that: “In fighting corruption, one must be clean “, a statement that was described by many senior officials as” “unacceptable “.
The dismissal of the head of the security of the western province of Oran, the third heaviest decision affecting the police sector, after the removal of Hamel of course as the chief officer of this security body , and this move was followed by the termination of the functions of the head of security of Algiers, senior police officer Noureddine Berachdi, who used to run the affairs of the capital of the country, a post of great influence.
It is known that the province of Oran was the scene of the seized cocaine case, which puts the various officials, headed by those involved in the fight against drugs and organized crime, under the pressure of suspicion of failure to face up to this scourge, especially since the seized shipment of cocaine was the largest of its kind in the history of the country since independence.
Although the firing of the head of the security of the province of Oran was filled with a lot of ambiguity, as the decision was not justified by official sources, the other recent decision to terminate the functions of the CEO of the National People’s Credit Bank (CPA) , Omar Boudeib, carried some signals, but it was not enough to remove the hovering confusion cloaking such a unexpected decision.
A statement by the Ministry of Finance did not however point to a link between the decision to terminate the duties of Boudeib from the top of the CPA Bank, and the so-called “Kamel Chikhi and his brothers,” affair which turned into a snowball that is inflating from day to day, as thorough security services’ investigations are steadily underway.
The CPA is one of the largest public banks in Algeria. It provides intermediate and long term loans to small and big customers active in various economic sectors including handicrafts, tourism, and cooperatives of all kinds except agriculture, water, irrigation, trade, housing and public works.