Tartag: “Madam Maya’s Money Was Deposited In Public Bank At Behest Of Said Bouteflika”
• The military investigative judge in the first military district of Blida heard the defendants in the file “bribery and forgery in the 2017 legislation” and “Madam Maya.” The file will be referred to trial at the end of June, at a time when the former head of the Intelligence and Security Department, Bachir Tartag, said, that he’d received orders regarding the two files directly from the Presidency of the Republic, and that the money seized in the “Madam Maya” case was deposited in a public bank, because it is unreasonable to keep it in the “barracks”, as he put it.
• In details of the case, in the possession of “Echorouk”, General Tartag said during his hearing by the military investigative judge, “I was carrying out the orders of the President of the Republic, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, through his brother, “Said”, regarding the file of the son of Ould Abbas, and President Bouteflika, himself who was the honorary president of the FLN Party, and on this basis, he asked Said Bouteflika, who was a link between the head of state and the military and non-military frameworks, to “stay behind”.
• In the file of “Zoulikha Nechinash”, called “Madam Maya”, Tartag continued, “The Presidency of the Republic, through the security coordinator, requested to be patient, since the case concerns the President personally”.
In response to a question regarding depositing the seized funds in a public bank, Tartag said, “After the positive inspections by the security services, money in the national currency and hard currency was found in the house of “Zoulikha Neshinash” in the state housing compound of “Moretti”, it was necessary not to waste it and on this basis we deposited it in a public bank, the Bank of Algeria, and the receipts are present, instead of being kept in the barracks”.
• Regarding not notifying the public prosecutor, the director of the former head of the Intelligence and Security Department said, “Everyone was aware of the facts, even the then Minister of Justice, Tayeb Louh,” stressing that the military security services were the first to confront corruption, when no one dared to do so.
• Supplementary investigations at the level of the judiciary, in the files of “bribery and forgery in legislation” and “Madam Maya” resulted in the dragging of high-ranking officers in the army, and the matter is related to the general called “Ben A.”, and two security officers with the rank of colonels, in addition to an officer with the rank of major, while the brother of former President Said Bouteflika will appear for his part as a witness in the case.
• The defendants were burdened with heavy charges related to abuse of office and violation of the legal procedures, as the facts relate to the circumstances of failure to respect the legal path applied by the judicial police in conducting investigations and transferring them to the public prosecutor of the regionally competent military court.
• The military investigative judge had decided last March to include the case of “bribery and fraud in the 2017 legislative elections”, with the case of “Zoulikha Nechinach”, called “Madam Maya”, the fake daughter of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
