Khalifa scandal: ministers to appear in court once again

Current and former Algerian ministers are expected to appear in a court in Blida on April 2nd to testify on the Khalifa Bank scandal as the High Court accepted 78 pleas from Attorney General and accused, Echorouk has learnt.

The case goes back to 5 years ago when the case became a matter of public concern. The banking scandal cost hundreds of thousands of Algerians their savings and jobs.

This comes as a series of corruption-cases has been under investigation including the Algeria’s energy group Sonatrach scandal which involves senior officials.

According to the same sources, a total of 104 accused will appear in court. A number of them were sentenced in 2007. The two main accused including the Khalifa Group’s head Rafik Abdelmoumene Khalifa got a life sentence in absentia. He was prosecuted for stealing, cheating and counterfeiting official documents.

Abu Djerra Soltani, Mourad Medelci and Abdelmadjid Tebboune who were ministers of employment, finance and housing respectively will appear in court as witnesses.

Lawyer Khaled Borghel said the accused who made a plea against their sentences gave up as they lost hope. They were sentenced to 5-10 years in prison. Some of them served their sentenced.

He told Echorouk businessman Abdelmoumene Khalifa who is jailed in Britain may not appear in court. The UK refuses to extradite him to Algeria although joint judicial commissions submitted requests for his extradition.

Some accused were acquitted and released. Others sentenced in abstention with an arrest warrant including former governor of the Bank of Algeria K. Abdenour and Abdelmoumene Khalifa.