Khalifa, Sonatrach Corruption Scandals Are Reopened At Algiers Supreme Court

Algiers Supreme Court officially ordered, on Wednesday, the reopening of Sonatrach and Khalifa cases (the scandal of the century), as part of the continuing corruption investigations and follow-up investigations that were initiated by the Algerian justice since late May.

These heavy cases are part of the financial scandals which Algeria noticed during the rule of the former President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and the stages of its trial took place four years ago, specifically during the year 2015.

The final judgments were handed down on the two cases at the level of the Criminal Court of Algiers in relation to the case of Sonatrach 1 and the Criminal Court of the Blida District Court for the case of the businessman, Abdelmoumene Khalifa, who is currently in prison.

In this regard, Algiers Criminal Court issued, on February 2, 2016, as reported by APS, on Wednesday, an order to jail the main defendant in the case of Sonatrach 1 to six years in prison with a fine of one million dinars, Al Ismail Mohamed Reda Djaafar , Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Algerian-German company Contel Funkwerk.

The court issued a further sentence of six years in prison with a fine of two million dinars against Maziene Mohamed Reda, the son of the former Sonatrach General Manager.

On the other hand, the criminal court sentenced Maghaoui Yazid to six years in prison and a fine of two million dinars in the case. His father, Maghaoui al-Hachemi, the former head of the Algerian Popular Loan, was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of one million dinars.

The court also issued a five-year prison sentence and a fine of DZD 500,000 against the vice-president director-general in charge of upstream activities, Belkacem Boumediene.

Another sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of one million dinars was issued against the second son of the former head of Sonatrach, Meziane Bachir Faouzi.

In a separate context, the court handed down a fine of 5 million dinars against the German company Funkwerk Plettac, and paying a fine of 4 million dinars to both Contel Algeria and the Algerian-German group Contel Funkwerk, and the Italian group Saipem Contracting Algeria, while 19 legal and natural persons who are suspected of involvement in the case benefited from acquittal.

On the case of the businessman, Abdelmoumene Khalifa, on June 23, 2015, the Criminal Court of the Blida issued sentences ranging from 18 years in prison to 18 years in the Khalifa case, while 53 others benefited from the acquittal.

The accused Abdelmoumene Khalifa, who is the general manager of the Khalifa company, was convicted to 18 years in prison and a fine of one million dinars and confiscation of his property while being acquitted of the misuse of “influence”.

Abdelmoumene Khalifa who was absent from the 2007 trial, was accused of a felony of forming a criminal group, theft accompanied by multiple frauds and bankruptcies, bribery, breach of trust and forgery of bank editors. The prosecutor sought a life sentence and confiscation of all his property.

The Criminal Court of the Blida District issued a sentence in absentia in June 2007 of life imprisonment for the same accused with the confiscation of his property, and the persons who are sentenced in the case of Khalifa are 71 defendants were prosecuted after the death of 5 of those who challenged the Supreme Court in the decisions of the trial in 2007, noting that among the 21 detainees, the number of witnesses in the case exceeded 300 witnesses along with the civilian party and the victims.