Ouergla Tramway Scandal: Algerian Businessman Received Bribes From Spanish Investors

Spanish National Court in Madrid is working on the investigation of the relationship between an Algerian businessman and bribes that were paid by two Spanish politicians from the People’s Party, to obtain the project of Ouergla Tramway worth 230 million euros.

According to the newspaper “El Mundo”, the national court’s judge, Jose de la Mata, focuses on the relationship between the Algerian businessman who is described as “very influential” and the cell that was created by the former Spanish ambassador to India, Gustavo De Aristegui, and the former MP, Pedro Gómez De La Serna, regarding the Spanish companies which won the tender of Ouergla tramway project (southern Algeria).

Same source said the judge asked for providing all the payments, contracts and trade links, which brought together the Algerian businessman’s company, which is in fact operating in the real estate field, and the company of Shams Assabah for Trade “LLC” Dubai-based, and which is owned by a partnership between Tommy Cristobal, who is a broker for Spanish investors and their representative in Algeria, and the company “Petheira”, which is a partner in completing Ouergla tramway, as the Spanish authorities suspect that the payment was through these two companies.

Tribunal investigation launched its investigation based on a phone call that was recorded between Tommy Cristobal who lived in Algeria for more than two decades, and who is a businessman in Ouargla province, while he was speaking about bribes, according to the Spanish newspaper, and the payment of commissions after analyzing the conversation by the unity of economic and tax crimes that belongs to the Spanish company, and based on this, the flow of money that was paid by Cristobal in favor of an Algerian person was followed by a number of gifts.

Ouergla tramway scandal occurred at the end of 2015, when the Spanish judicial investigations revealed the existence of irregularities and kickbacks and bribes by Spanish politicians from the ruling People’s Party, to win two projects in Algeria, which are the water desalination plant in Souk Thelatha in Tlemcen (western Algeria), worth 220 million Euros, and the Tramway of Ouargla (southern Algeria) worth 230 million euros.