Sonatrach1 bribery trial: “Meziane and his sons lodge appeal with Supreme Court”

It’s been officially confirmed by judicial sources that the defendants convicted in the so-called “Sonatrach 1” corruption case, with on focus former CEO of Sonatrach Group Mohamed Meziane and his two sons, have filed an appeal of cassation before the Supreme Court, after being convicted of penalties varying up to a maximum of six years imprisonment as part of a verdict handed down on February 2nd 2016 by the criminal Court of Algiers.

Lawyers told “Echorouk” that all the defendants arrested and tried in the “Sonatrach 1″ case except the defendant who obtained the acquittal namely “Zenasni Benamar”, have introduced a cassation appeal before the Supreme Court in the legal deadlines, and immediately after their release from prison.

Therefore, on behalf of Mohamed Meziane and his two sons, the Attorney General lodged a cassation appeal with the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court within the required eight day timeframe to ensure the reviewing of all sentences handed down by the Algiers criminal Court in the so-called “Sonatrach1” bribery trial which wound up recently.

“The overwhelming majority of the defendants now returned to their homes simply because they have served the sentences against them,” Lawyer Sadek Chaib told reporters in the lobby of the Court of Algiers.

As a recall, the Algiers criminal court gave prison sentences ranging from 18 months suspended to six years in jail in the case involving 15 people and four companies, including Italy’s Saipem and Germany’s Funkwerk.

Seven people were acquitted.

The defendants faced a raft of charges, including embezzlement of public funds, money laundering, corruption and pocketing bribes in exchange for unlawfully awarded contracts to foreign firms.

Sonatrach is the largest oil and gas company in Algeria, an OPEC member which is the second-largest supplier of gas to Europe after Russia.

Former Sonatrach CEO Mohamed Meziane was given five years’ probation and a fine of two million dinars (17,000 euros). The prosecution had sought a 15-year jail term and a three-million-dinar fine.

His sons Mohamed Reda Meziane and Bachir Fawzi Meziane were sentenced respectively to six years and five years in prison and fined two million dinars and one million dinars.

Former vice president Belkacem Boumediene, jailed six years ago, was sentenced to five years in prison. His lawyer said he would appeal.

Another Sonatrach vice president in jail for the past six years, Benamar Zenasni, was acquitted.

The former CEO of the public bank CPA, Meghaoui Hashemi, was given a five-year jail term for money laundering, while his son Yazid Meghaoui got six years.

Germany’s Funkwerk Plettac was fined five million dinars and three other firms — Contel Algerie SARL, the Algerian-German group Contel-Funkwerk and Italy’s Saipem Contracting Algeria were each fined four million dinars.

Saipem Contracting Algerie said in a statement that it will “assess the reasons given by the court and will appeal… as it firmly believes no price inflation above market rates occurred.”

Contel Funkwerk boss Mohamed Jaafar al-Reda Ismail was given a six-year prison term.

Funkwerk was also excluded from bidding for contracts in Algeria for five years.