Officials use Sonatrach’s money to buy apartments in Algiers, Paris and London

Some suspects involved in the Sonatrach 1 corruption scandal and accused of money laundering have money in banking accounts and real-estate in Paris, according to investigators.

The investigations showed that the wife of Sonatrach’s former CEO owns a 695,000-Euro-appartment in Paris. She told a court in Paris that her son bought it for her. He is also involved in the scandal.

Sonatrach’s former CEO said he did not know that his wife had that apartment. His brother gained 200 shares in a company worth 1 million DZ in return for nothing. Because of that, he is accused of money laundering, corruption, obtaining unjustified privileges and exploiting his position for personal interests.

Deals under the table

The investigations also showed that Sonatrach’s deputy-CEO does not possess any real-estate or money in Paris except an apartment in London and banking accounts in England, Spain and Saudi Arabia.

Apartments in Hydra and garage

According to investigators, Sonatrach’s former CEO has real-estates in Algiers including an apartment in El Biar and another one in Hydra. His son also owns two apartments in Ben Aknoun and a garage.

The investigations were launched in 2010. They showed that there is a strong link between the sons of Sonatrach’s former CEO and many companies which gained deals at the Algerian energy group. Of them, Italy’s Saipem where his son had worked as an adviser in return for 140,000 DZ per month.

He also benefited from many privileges as he was a mediator between the Italian company and Sonatrach to gain gas deals. Saipem’s CEO offered him money to organize his wedding party in Tunisia which had been attended by famous personalities and businessmen. The Italian official seized the opportunity to discuss deals and partnership project with Sonatrach’s CEO at that time.

In 2009, Saipem’s CEO gave him 400 million centimes in his office to buy a car for his wife.