Tahkout Family’s Corruption Trial: State Public Treasury Demanded Compensation Worth DZD 5000B
The Public Prosecutor at the Economic and Financial Penal Pole sought, on Sunday, the imposition of the harshest penalties against the family of businessman Mahieddine Tahkout, as he demanded the conviction of the director of the “CIMA Motors” company, Rachid Tahkout, to 15 years in prison, compared to 12 years in prison for each of the two sons of Mahieddine Tahkout, “Bilal and Ali” and his brothers “Nacer, Hamid, Youcef and Ibrahim”, with an effective financial fine of DZD 8 million for each of them, and the confiscation of all funds, real estate, and bank accounts seized and not seized and mentioned in the seizure minutes issued by the investigating judge and not mentioned, whether they are in the name of the accused or moved to others, while the public treasury demanded compensation of DZD 5000 billion.
In addition to that, the penalties demanded by the representative of the public right against the rest of the defendants, who are workers and employees of the “Sema Motors” company and private individuals, as well as employees, ranged between 5, 7, 8, and 10 years in prison, with a petition for the conviction of the defendants who are in escape called “F.M”, “R.K”, “B.H”, “D.A”, “Ch. Y”, with a penalty of 15 years in prison and an 8 million DZD fine, with support for issuing an international arrest warrant against them.
For its part, the public treasury demanded that the Tahkout family compensate it with DZD 5000 billion in solidarity, while it sought compensation of DZD 1 million by each accused who is facing a follow-up in the case.
In the case file, 55 accused, who are members of the Tahkout family and officials in their companies, were prosecuted before the third branch of the Sidi M’hamed economic and financial penal pole in Algiers, from last Tuesday, and the trial continued, Sunday, for the third day in a row, after they were faced with heavy charges included in the Anti-Corruption and Prevention Law 01 / 06 ranging between the money laundering by concealing property and proceeds obtained from corruption crimes, as well as obstructing the good course of justice by giving false testimony in corruption crimes and obstructing the progress of ongoing investigations regarding them, in addition to influencing and exerting pressure on judicial administrators appointed by justice.
According to the investigations carried out by the judicial police and the investigating judge of the third chamber of the economic and financial penal pole in Sidi M’hamed, the Tahkout family, according to what was stated in the referral order, was relying on an organized and legalized criminal method by “handing over cash with the transfer of ownership of the real and movable property to persons from their acquaintances and those close to them, all of this with the knowledge of the same persons that it is to camouflage the true nature of the same property. Similar to other methods related to the import of many luxury vehicles of various brands, including deals without completing the customs and registration procedures at the car transport offices in Algeria, taking advantage of the Mujahideen’s import licenses (an operation for the benefit of war veterans), to then release special agencies for them at the level of some notaries’ offices known for their dealings with him, in which they write the names of their relatives or some of their employees, as well as some customers of CIMA car equipment company.
