Travel Allowance Fraud: Sentences of Up to 7 Years in Prison for Defendants

The Economic and Financial Criminal Division Court has handed down a series of sentences against members of networks involved in manipulating the €750 travel allowance introduced by the President of the Republic, with prison terms reaching seven years and varying financial fines.

In the rulings delivered by the judge of the third chamber of the Economic and Financial Criminal Division on Wednesday, September 2, at 11 a.m., in a public, in-person and first-instance hearing, sentences were issued in two separate cases involving the same set of facts.

In the first case, the judge imposed heavy sentences of up to seven years on eight defendants. The defendant was identified as “F.I.” sentenced to seven years in prison and fined DZD 500,000. The defendant “K.H.” received a five-year prison sentence and a DZD 500,000. Two other defendants were each sentenced to three years in prison and a DZD 100,000 fine, while two others received one year in prison and a DZD 200,000 fine each. The judge acquitted three defendants of all charges against them.

The sentences followed the defendants’ appearance before the Economic and Financial Criminal Division on charges of forming an organized criminal association for the purpose of violating regulations governing the movement of capital into and out of the country, as well as abuse of office.

In a related development, the same judge handed down sentences of up to five years in prison against 22 defendants linked to the second case involving the alleged manipulation and fraudulent exploitation of the travel allowance.

After calling the defendants into the courtroom, the presiding judge proceeded to read out the sentences imposed on each of them. The defendant “Dj. Abderrazak” and three others were sentenced to five years in prison and fined DZD 500,000 each. Sixteen defendants received one-year prison sentences and fines of DZD 50,000 each, while two defendants were fully acquitted.

The defendants in this case were prosecuted before the same court on misdemeanor charges of forming a criminal association with the aim of unlawfully obtaining the travel allowance for entry into and exit from the national territory, in addition to violating regulations governing the movement of capital into and out of the country.