Public Treasury Incurred €701M Losses Due To Algiers Airport Information System
The Financial and Economic Division of Algiers State Security completed investigations into the corruption case related to the suspicious deal concluded by the company operating services and airport facilities with the British company “Ultra Electronics”, which cost the public treasury 701 million euros, equivalent to the national currency DZD 1400 billion.
According to information, in the possession of Echorouk, the Financial and Economic Division listened to the persons suspected of being involved in the case of the service management company and airport facilities, including a former minister, the first official in charge of the company and central officials, and the file will be transferred to the economic and financial penal pole at the Sidi M’hamed Court in the next few days, after completing the applicable legal procedures.
In the details of the file, the case is related to granting the British company “Ultra Electronics”, the pioneer in the field of airport management and equipment systems, a deal of the project to equip the new international airport in suspicious ways, at the expense of 5 competing and pioneering companies in the field, to provide Algiers International Airport with a special management information system at a cost of more than 700 million euros, in hard currency, equivalent to DZD 1400 billion in the national currency, in exchange for commissions paid by the British company, which is the correspondence that exposed the involvement of the so-called “F.K”, a friend and representative of a high official in the British company, who explicitly asked the company to pay a very important amount of money, immediately and in advance, in the European currency, after the broker revealed that the amount was for the official’s benefit so that the spoils were shared between them.
The facts of the investigation of the financial and economic division of Algiers state security, according to Echorouk sources, were confirmed by the report of the General Inspectorate of Finance, which also investigated projects and deals that took place in the management of services and airport facilities, including the deal related to providing the international airport with a management information system.
The defendants in the corruption case face heavy charges included in the Anti-Corruption and Prevention Law 01/06, which are wasting public money, concluding deals in violation of the legislation and granting unjustified privileges to others, and the file will be referred to the Dean of the investigative judges to the economic and financial penal pole at the Sidi M’hamed Court, to continue the investigation, which will drag several heavy names to prison.
