Hadjas: Zerhouni and Barkat were aware about my investments

Attorney General Friday sought 10 years in prison for the chair of the board at Union Bank Ibrahim Hadjas accused of being involved in public money squandering, saying he has never been a general director but no more than a shareholder.

The suspect denied the allegations and said he is a businessmen working in fishing and agriculture field. “Although Algeria was experiencing terrorism in 2002, I came back there and met Said Barkat, the Algerian agriculture minister at that time. I suggested investment projects and he accepted. He advised me to negotiate with farmers and have two associates. Because of that, I involved my children Kahina and Cherif as partners in the investment projects. At present, they are in Canada,” said Hadjas.

He added that he got the right to buy 14 agriculture farms. Some 90 percent of them were neglected including 10 collective and 4 individual. A total of 17 contracts were made in his name, his children and the company. He repaired the farms and exploited them in agriculture. A project was carried out with Americans in some farms next to the beach.

According to Hadjas, the Algerian interior minister at that time Yazid Zerhouni visited him along with foreign delegations to check agricultural investments in Algeria.

This comes as farmers said a mediator sent by Hadjas told them the State would take back its lands if they did not accept to give up the right to exploit the farms.

He also told them Zerhouni was aware about the issue. They accepted to give up the right as they suffered terrorism at that time.

The mediator denied the farmers’ allegations, saying he obtained 30 million centimes in return for convincing them to give up the right.

Hadjas’ lawyer said evidences are not available as his client did not enter the lands secretly.

“My client should be respected because he came back to his country with a civilized mentality. He preferred to invest in his country to found a bank like what France did with the Société Générale bank. Yet, he was disappointed,” he added.