Sonatrach Loses DZD 131 Million In A Suspicious Public Deal

Algiers Criminal Court sentenced, on Tuesday evening, three accused, who were involved in dispelling 131 million DZD from Sonatrach, and leaking confidential information about the transactions of the company, with jail in force for a period of 3 years.

The accused “Kh.A” and “B.Ismail” work for Sonatrach, along with another defendant, who is the director of a private French construction company GTA, called Howard Michel Andrew, were arrested on charges of the felony of dispelling public funds and bribery to sign a deal on behalf of the state, and the misdemeanor of signing deals that violate the legislation, and counterfeiting banking documents and fraud.

The above-mentioned judgment came after the Attorney General sought 10 years in jail against all the defendants, during a second trial after the Supreme Court’s decision to accept the appeal.

As stated by the referral decision, the facts of the case were uncovered after receiving an anonymous letter to the Algerian security services, stating that the French manager for the construction company named “Howard Michel Andrew” used the defendants “Kh. A” and “B.I”, who are employees in Sonatrach, in order to win a deal concerning a residential project comprising 407 houses called “life base”, that was was directed to the company’s workers in Adrar province, and the accused falsified the documents, so that the French company could take advantage from the deal.

Both Algerian accused disclosed the project’s secrets and leaked offers of the competitive companies, including Algerian and foreign companies, which enabled the French company from the acquisition of a large project, by presenting a more competitive offer, and this caused considerable material damage to Sonatrach, which suffered a loss of 131 Million DZD.

In return the two defendants received a bribe, and benefited from free trips to France at the expense of the company GTA.