Investigative Judge Opens Second Part Of “Vehicle Assembling” Bribery Case

The Supreme Court continues to investigate corruption files that exceeded 480 cases, in which former and current governors were involved, along with a number of officials and state executives, as the investigating judge heard on Sunday the former governor of Oran province, Mouloud Cherifi, in corruption cases, while on the same day businessman Abderrahmane Achaibou appeared before the same legal authority, as a civil party, in cases related to the second part of the file “car assembling” plants, also involving Mahieddine Tahkout and Mourad Eulmi, along with former Premiers Ahmed Ouyahia, Abdelmalek Sellal and former Minister of Industry Abdeslem Bouchouareb.

As such, the former wali or governor of Oran, Mouloud Chérifi, appeared this Sunday, December 15, 2019 before the investigative judge to the Supreme Court in cases related to corruption, according to Echorouk News.

According to the same source, Mouloud Chérifi is being sued for the granting of undue benefits s and unlawful privileges in the field of real estate to the businessman, Ali Haddad, in prison since last April.
In this regard, it should be recalled that the latter was sentenced to 10 years in prison in connection with the vehicle assembly case.

In the same context, the investigative judge to the Supreme Court is reportedly continuing his inquiries regarding the second part of the vehicle assembly corruption case, which involves Mahieddine Tahkout, owner of “Cima Motors”, and the vehicle assembly factory “Hyundai”, and Mourad Eulmi, owner of the “Sovak” car complex, who are now in custody.

The case concerns the fugitive, Abdelsalam Bouchouareb, in his capacity as Minister of Industry and Mines, now at large overseas, who had intentionally granted to others unjustified privileges in the field of public deals, in violation of the legislative and regulatory provisions related to freedom of candidacy and equality between the bidding candidates.

He’s also accused of abuse of authority, bribery, and false declarations, by establishing an unreliable technical evaluation committee and appointing members who have no experience at all in the field of automobile assembling.

Moreover, Bouchouareb did not normally work out to this effect a book of conditions having a legal basis and did not disclose it in the official gazette and handed it over to the dealers (as bribery-related favors) for certain people who did not meet the legal conditions for obtaining official accreditation.

Meanwhile, the second defendant in the case, former PM Ahmed Ouyahia, will be facing several crimes, including intentionally granting unjustified privileges to others in the field of public deals and violating the rules of transparency and equality, the first of which is correspondence to industry ministers to determine the list of car dealers who are authorized to obtain accreditation and thereby to open vehicle assembly factories, including the so-called list of 5 + 5.

This malpractice led to the exclusion of a number of businessmen who met the necessary conditions, such as the plaintiffs Abderrahmane Achaibou and Omar Rebrab, as investigations into the case indicate that “Ouyahia monopolized the full powers of the Ministry of Industry and Finance and the Investment Council, and violated the equality of bidding car dealers, to the detriment of the principle of fair competition among them, in the field of new automotive marketing experience”.