This Is How Wafi Ould Abbas Mediated With The British To Clinch Tlemcen Hospital Deal

Concerning the case of al-Wafi, the son of the former secretary-general of the National Liberation Front Party (FLN) Djamel Ould Abbas, he was involved in the mediation with British IHG Company by winning the University Hospital equipment project in Tlemcen (western Algeria), which was later frozen as the country was then going through a financial crisis. The latter made to this effect trips to the British company headquarters.
“Echorouk” received a letter from Brian Mac Gibbon, project manager of the British company “IHG” in the field of health and hospitals, dated 22 December 2010 addressed to Wafi Ould Abbas, including an invitation to come to Britain and stay for several days to discuss the opportunities in the Health Sector of Algeria, at Stoke Park Hotel, in the company of the Director General of the company Roger King.
The invitation also included the daughter of Al Wafi Ould Abbas without reference, while the residence in Britain was specified between 27 December 2010 and 5 January 2011, and the expenses during the entire period of residence will be the responsibility of the British company.
Indeed, Wafi Ould Abbas move to Britain during that period, which is shown by photographs in the possession of “Echorouk” in which he appeared alongside his translator and the general manager of the British company and his wife.
As an outcome of that visit, according to the information available to Echorouk, Al-Wafi secured a big financial deal between the Ministry of Health and the British Embassy in Algeria.
It ended with the signing of a memorandum of understanding signed on December 4, 2012. The available information indicates that Wafi Ould Abbas had frequented the Ministry of Health mostly at night to covertly wrap up the various transactions using the official stamp of his father, Minister Djamel Ould Abbas.
Subsequently, the International Hospital Group (IHG) won the deal to complete and equip the health facility of Tlemcen and organize, manage and train staff and workers. This was announced on 17 March 2014 by the former Minister of Health Abdelmalek Boudiaf.
After the collapse of oil prices in the second half of 2014, the Algerian government announced the freezing of projects of new university hospitals notably those of the capital Algiers, Tizi Ouzou, Tlemcen and Constantine, in keeping with a correspondence of the Ministry of Health through the National Agency for the conduct of achievements and equipment of health institutions, dated 2 February 2015,
An independent committee then made reservations about the queries of the British company “IHG” during two meetings held on 1 and 17 December 2014. The letter signed by the director of the agency “Lazar B” was addressed to the director of the British company “IHG”, and related to the technical offer on study.
According to the latest developments, Wafi Ould Abbas is currently in the Emirate of Dubai where he has been living for a while. He is reportedly bracing to travel to stay in Venezuela, with a relevant passport in view of the nationality of his Venezuelan mother, given the restive political situation now prevailing in that Latin American country and thereby avert any attempt of being deported to Algeria.