Parliament members call for political arrest warrant for Sonatrach corruption suspects

Algeria Parliament members are expected to hold a general debate about corruption following the arrest warrant for former energy minister Chakib Khalil. A parliamentary investigation will be opened about wrongdoings in Algeria’s energy group Sonatrach.

Earlier, Parliament dropped the debate from its agenda. Members were not convinced by energy minister Youcef Yousfi’s remarks about corruption in hydrocarbons sector. They collected signatures to open a general debate.

Deputy Lakhdar Ben Khelaf said Parliament members want to unveil wrongdoings committed by some officials.

He believes that Khelil was incited by political officials. “Those people must be judged as well. It is weird that Khelil was the energy minister and Sonatrach’s manager at the same time. He used his position to get some Sonatrach’s properties.”

He said he will call for promulgating new legislations to fight corruption and launching other initiatives including oral and written questions and parliamentary investigating commissions.