The “Sonatrach 1” Bribe Scandal Before The Criminal Court Again

On November 24, the judiciary opens again the scandal of the hydrocarbons complex known as “Sonatrach 1”, in which 15 defendants are being pursued, led by the former president and director general of the complex, Mohamed Meziane, who are suspected of being involved in a heavy corruption file.
The Criminal Court of Appeal of the Algiers Judicial Council is scheduled to open, during its criminal session on November 24, the “Sontrach 1” file, after its return from the Supreme Court to accept the cassation appeal.
The first trial in this case took place at the Criminal Court in the capital Algiers from December 27, 2015 to January 27, 2016, and its verdicts were pronounced on February 3 of the same year, which resulted in the acquittal of the majority of Sonatrach executives, and the defendants were convicted to penalties of between 5 and 6 years in prison.
Ali Mohamed Meziane, former CEO of Sonatrach, was sentenced to 5 years in prison and a fine of 2 million Algerian dinars, his son Reda was convicted to 6 years in prison and a fine of 2 million Algerian dinars, and his other son Faouzi Bachir was convicted to 5 years in prison and 1 million Algerian dinars fine.
In addition, Ismail Mohamed Reda, the director of the Contal complex, was sentenced to 6 years in prison and a fine of one million dinars, in addition to being prevented from participating and entering into Algerian public transactions, and his property was confiscated as a complementary punishment.
The defendants in the case face the felony of leading a group of evildoers, concluding deals in violation of legislation, giving undue privileges, abuse of office, conflict of interest, money laundering and other heavy charges.
The first trial, which lasted a whole month, had previously recorded many exciting and ambiguous statements at the same time, while it did not reveal the truth of corruption or what exactly happened in the largest Algerian hydrocarbons company, because the solution to the mystery remained in the hands of the former Minister of Energy and Mines, Chakib Khelil, who was not a witness.
There is no accused in the file, and he is the one who can reveal the truth of what happened, because the accused, regardless of their positions in Sonatrach, from the vice-presidents, the general manager, and the executive directors, all of them, including Mohamed Meziane, agreed that the deals pursued by them related to electronic protection and the gas pipeline “GK3” and the “reconfiguration of Ghermoul’s headquarters” was carried out on the orders and written instructions from Chakib Khalil, as he had the first and last word in the management of the complex.
It is expected that the trial, in its second edition, will reveal the secrets behind the management of the “Sonatrach” company and the truth of the suspicions of corruption that hovered around the deals concluded with foreign companies during the reign of Chakib Khalil, the defendant of the “Sonatrach 2” file, which is still in the investigation stage.
The file pertains to three deals, including granting the German company’s branch in Algeria “Funkwerk German” specialized in developing and manufacturing communications systems for companies and the transport sector, and a deal to provide Sonatrach with visual monitoring systems for its facilities, with a value of more than 110 million euros, and it is suspected that the deal was for commissions of four millions euros were used to buy gifts, including an apartment in Paris, for the benefit of Meziane’s family.
As for the second deal, it relates to awarding a contract for the completion of a gas pipeline between Algeria and Italy to the Italian company “Sipam”, a subsidiary of the Italian energy giant “Eni”, with a value of 586 million euros, while the third deal relates to the rehabilitation of Sonatrach’s headquarters in Ghermoul district, and the deal was illegally assigned to another foreign company worth 64 million euros.