Former Labour Minister to Face Justice With 10 Defendants

Former Minister of Labor, Hassan Tidjani Haddam, along with more than 10 defendants, including mayors of several municipalities in Algiers, will appear before the Sidi M’hamed Economic and Financial Penal Pole Court on Tuesday, June 24, for corruption charges related to the purchase of an unfinished building with funds from the National Social Insurance Fund for Employees at an inflated price.

The defendants will be tried at the second branch of the Economic and Financial Penal Pole. They will face serious charges under the Anti-Corruption and Prevention of Corruption Law, including granting unjustified privileges when concluding a contract in violation of legislative and regulatory provisions, embezzlement of public funds, intentional abuse of office in violation of laws and regulations, taking advantage of the power and influence of officials, and complicity in the embezzlement of public funds.

The Central Office for the Repression of Corruption investigated the case four years ago. It uncovered corruption within the National Social Security Fund for Salaried Workers, including the manipulation of its funds in a deal to purchase an unfinished building for an inflated sum, benefiting the fund. The owner benefited from significant advances during the tenure of the former director, Hassan Tidjani Haddam, who is currently subject to strict judicial oversight by a court order and is banned from leaving the country.

Based on this, the investigation was launched. Following a thorough investigation, it was revealed that Fund’s officials had purchased an unfinished, under-construction building intended for administrative use in the municipality of Kouba, Algiers. The building’s area was estimated at approximately 15,000 square meters, while the actual area being used was only 13,000 square meters. This was done without announcing a tender in accordance with applicable law.

It was also revealed that the building, despite its incomplete construction and being merely columns, was purchased for approximately DZD 60 million, excluding fees. Based on this, suspicion of corruption was established, given that the National Social Security Fund for Salaried Workers, a public institution, could have constructed the building at a lower cost by resorting to another public institution. Instead, it turned to a private institution to purchase the building for this exorbitant sum.

Continued investigations into the acquisition of this building for such an exorbitant sum revealed that there was collusion among several Fund employees by resorting to a method of “favouring” a private institution, the “K” Real Estate Development Company, which offered DZD 60 million without evaluating the building. This revealed the involvement of an official at the State Property Directorate at the time, who later became Director of State Property, along with other Fund employees.

More seriously, investigations into the case revealed that the former Minister of Labor, Tidjani Haddam, who was then the Director General of the Fund during the transaction, granted advances to the owner of the real estate development company “K” for approximately DZD 40 million, representing 66% of the total value of the unfinished building, estimated at DZD 60 million. This means that the Fund’s money was granted to complete the building’s construction.

Comprehensive investigations and a review of all documents related to the deal revealed that the real estate developer had benefited from additional advances. However, the building had not been handed over until the investigation was opened. Furthermore, the former CEO of CNAS did not take any punitive or precautionary measures against the real estate agency’s owner at the time.

Judicial investigations continued by the investigating judge of the eighth chamber of the Economic and Financial Pole Court, who decided to subject the former Minister of Labour, Hassan Tidjani Haddam, to strict judicial supervision and prevent him from leaving the country, with his passport confiscated, as well as several defendants.

He ordered others to be placed in temporary detention, such as the former director of state property, who held the position of director of valuations in the same directorate, as well as the owner of real estate development “K”, who was placed in temporary detention. After the investigation was completed, the file was referred to the scheduling department of the same judicial authority to set the date of Tuesday, June 24th, as the trial date.