Vexed Issue Of “Black Feet” Property Is Back On National Scene

A significant disagreement in the reading of legal texts in cases related to what is described as the property of “black feet” in Algeria, at the level of the Supreme Court and the Council of State, which confused the efforts of the State to wrap up this intricate case, which has exploded dramatically since the arrival of former President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika at the Presidency.

The case concerns the property of the family of one of Algeria’s biggest black feet, the Tirak family, which owns dozens of properties on the streets of upscale Algiers and Boumerdes. The Supreme Court issued four decisions against the company, which confirmed that the claimant institution had no legal existence since its nationalization in 1968, as well as based on the documentary contract it founded, which talks about its automatic dissolution in 1988.

Among the decisions issued by the Supreme Court that dropped the rights of the Tirak family to own property in Algeria, one on March 23, 2017 No. 00276/2017, issued by the legal Civil Chamber, and another on the same date and the same body, number 00254/2017, and another decision in the records as issued by the same chamber , number 00252/2017, and a fourth decision issued on the same date by the same legal body, number 00253/2017.

However, the fourth chamber, at the level of the State Council, went against the Supreme Court when it issued a decree numbering 2015/610, dated December 31, 2015, giving the right to the Tirak family, which confused the victims of this family, who are waiting for an eventual ruling from the fourth chamber. The State Council may decide on another case with the number 129906.

The victims of the Tirak family, in a complaint to Echorouk, said the company “does not exist legally, but the State Council issued decisions against both the State Property Directorate of the Wilaya or province of Algiers and the Naftal complex, demanding the payment of large sums in the form of rent for the Tirak family, without regard to Order No. 68/160 on the nationalization of the property of this company, as well as Article 42 of the Finance Act 2010, which was finally settled in an order described as property of black feet”.

The claimants thus request the authorities to open an investigation into the issuance of a contract by a notary to the company, based on statements from the owners of the company, which ended in the opinion of the latter, and this after the nationalization of its property on the one hand, and the end of its physical presence since 1988, based on the documented contract.

It is known that the issue of the so-called “black feet property” in Algeria, took a political dimension due to the complicity of the gang system, where the issue was raised each time during the visits that led a number of French officials to Algeria, such as the visit of Laurent Fabius, Foreign Minister under the Former French President Francois Hollande, who told a press conference with former interior minister Dahou Ould Kablia at the honorary hall at Houari Boumedienne airport, that the possessions of the black feet had been fully discussed during that visit.

These statements were seen as a provocation to the Algerians, and even jumped on the law, because the government, having exacerbated the issue of black feet property dealt with in the Algerian courts, enacted an article in the 2010 Finance Act, which closed this case, but It seems that shadowy parties are still covertly maneuvering to help some returnees in search of the treasures they have lost in Algeria.