Ali Haddad headed the Algerian employers' association until his forced resignation in March 2019 (photo: FCE)
ALGERIA. The trials of the leaders of the Bouteflika era continue in Algeria with, on Wednesday July 1, 2020, several convictions and in particular those affecting the Haddad family by the court of Sid M'hamed (Algiers).
Ali Haddad had to answer for "obtaining privileges, benefits and public contracts in violation of the law, squandering public funds, abuse of office, conflict of interest and corruption in the conclusion of public contracts." Since early March 2019 and his arrest for illegal possession of travel documents (two passports) and undeclared currency at a border post with Tunisia where he was trying to flee, the former president of the Forum of Business Leaders (FCE) from late November 2014 to his forced resignation in late March 2019, is imprisoned.
He is sentenced to ten years in prison, 8 million dinars (€ 54,900) in fines with the seizure of all his assets and those of his family. Ali Haddad had already been found guilty (four years in prison) in another corruption trial at the end of March 2020 on appeal. He was the head of ETRHB, the country's leading private construction company, which was awarded many large public contracts by the Bouteflika clan, including the disputed Boudouaou-Zeralda and East-West freeways as well as the Algiers international airport bypass.
The four brothers of the former boss, Omar, Meziane, Sofiane and Mohamed, were sentenced to four years' imprisonment for their roles in the cases against Ali Haddad.
At the same time, two former prime ministers of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal, affected by other corruption scandals, will have to spend 12 years behind bars. Eight former ministers from the same period will follow them for sentences ranging from two to 20 years, including Abdeslam Bouchouareb, former Minister of Industry and Mines. Currently on the run abroad and under an international arrest warrant, he was the most severely punished.
Ali Haddad had to answer for "obtaining privileges, benefits and public contracts in violation of the law, squandering public funds, abuse of office, conflict of interest and corruption in the conclusion of public contracts." Since early March 2019 and his arrest for illegal possession of travel documents (two passports) and undeclared currency at a border post with Tunisia where he was trying to flee, the former president of the Forum of Business Leaders (FCE) from late November 2014 to his forced resignation in late March 2019, is imprisoned.
He is sentenced to ten years in prison, 8 million dinars (€ 54,900) in fines with the seizure of all his assets and those of his family. Ali Haddad had already been found guilty (four years in prison) in another corruption trial at the end of March 2020 on appeal. He was the head of ETRHB, the country's leading private construction company, which was awarded many large public contracts by the Bouteflika clan, including the disputed Boudouaou-Zeralda and East-West freeways as well as the Algiers international airport bypass.
The four brothers of the former boss, Omar, Meziane, Sofiane and Mohamed, were sentenced to four years' imprisonment for their roles in the cases against Ali Haddad.
At the same time, two former prime ministers of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal, affected by other corruption scandals, will have to spend 12 years behind bars. Eight former ministers from the same period will follow them for sentences ranging from two to 20 years, including Abdeslam Bouchouareb, former Minister of Industry and Mines. Currently on the run abroad and under an international arrest warrant, he was the most severely punished.
