Fresh Investigations Into Suspected Corruption Scandals At National Hydrocarbons Group Sonatrach

The research group of the regional department of the National Gendarmerie of Algiers has launched a wide-ranging investigation into the Sonatrach oil and gas empire.
Investigators are currently investigating all the credits and deals concluded by the national hydrocarbons group both inside and outside the country, notably through the signing of agreements, auctioning and licensing.
The ongoing investigation is also expected to unveil the circumstances behind the acquisition of several businesses by businessman Réda Kouninef from the national hydrocarbons complex under the Ministry of Energy.
The research and investigative team of the national Gendarmerie was dispatched to the headquarters of the Sonatrach complex in the last few days with relevant files being collected.
The investigation, according to the Echorouk’s sources, began on Sunday through the injunction of the Ministry of Energy and is to unravel the ins and outs of the delivery of all transactions concluded by the Sonatrach complex, with foreign and national companies, and will include the investigation regarding natural and legal persons involved in the suspected bribery cases.
In addition, the same sources point out that the Gendarmes will probe the ways of concluding contracts, granting credits and transactions, signing agreements, auctioning and licensing, and investigating the needs of those involved, and the established criteria for selecting the various contractors.
As part of the follow-up, the security services’ research group will review the progress of the projects of the energy complex and investigate the rate of attrition and financial advances, while investigating all project reservations, disputes registered with contractors and the pressures applied when making a decision to award deals.
On the other hand, according to the same sources, the investigation also affects companies belonging to businessman Réda Kouninef and his family, which has acquired 35 companies of a national and foreign character, most of which are active in the field of communications and petrochemicals.
It should be noted that businessman Réda Kouninef was stripped of his passport by border police at Houari Boumedienne airport in Algiers after his planned departure on board a plane that was bound to Geneva in Switzerland, as part of the investigations ordered by the Attorney General of the Capital’s District Court.