Former Solidarity Ministers Charged With Corruption: Supreme Court Refuses To Release Them

The indictment chamber of the Supreme Court refused to release the two former ministers of Solidarity, Djamel Ould Abbas and Said Berkat, who are followed on charges huge corruption cases, related to their period of supervising the Ministry of Solidarity and Family, while each file will be referred to Algiers court of Sidi M’hamed at the end of this month.

In the matter, Echorouk sources revealed that the indictment chamber of the Supreme Court endorsed the decision of the investigating advisor at the same judicial authority, who faced the former Secretary-General of the National Liberation Front Party, Djamel Ould Abbas with 3 expertise reports related to the investigations of the competent authorities, regarding Corruption cases dated back to the years 2001, 2002 and 2003, which is the period of office for the ex-Ministers of Solidarity and Family, and the former Minister Said Berkat faced 3 other reports related to his tenure in the solidarity and family sector during the years 2010-2011-2012.

The same sources confirmed that the investigating advisor to the Supreme Court decided to combine the file of both defendants Djamel Ould Abbas and Said Berkat in one case while pursuing them on heavy charges related to the dispersal of public funds and concluding deals contrary to the applicable legislation, exploitation of the job, and forgery in public documents following the Anti-Corruption Law 01 / 06.

According to the minutes of the judicial seizure and the Central Bureau for the Suppression of Corruption in the case of Djamel Ould Abbas, he is suspected of being involved in wasting billions of dollars between 2001 and 2003, as this money was transferred, according to investigations, to associations and NGOs, which were headed by Djamel Ould Abbas when he was Minister of Solidarity, in addition to other illegal agreements and deals contrary to legislation that was supervised by the former Minister of Solidarity Said Berkat.

In addition to Ould Abbas, 21 suspects are being followed in the case, including the former Secretary-General of the Ministry of Solidarity and Family, along with 9 officials in the same ministry, central managers, state directors of the sector and heads of associations that benefited from huge funds, and they had no collective activity, rather, they seized the money of the needy, disadvantaged, the handicapped and people with special needs.

Djamel Ould Abbas is also followed in the case of buying 1,200 computers and buses to transport students without announcing deals according to the applicable laws, but it was carried out consensually, as the buses’ case includes his predecessor Said Berkat, who granted a sum of money exceeding DZD 200 billion in 2010, to his predecessor Djamel Ould Abbas, in the name of his association, which he headed and that is called “Peace and Solidarity”, to buy buses to transport students or the so-called “buses of solidarity”, and his involvement in concluding 15 illegal agreements to buy fake ambulances as well.