Abdelmoumen Khalifa trial opens at Blida Court
Algiers- Favoritism, corruption, influence peddling, money laundering, embezzlement. The time of the great unpacking begins in Algeria, where justice looks at several corruption scandals.
Algerian justice started since one week dealing with corruption cases related to major development projects. An unpacking which will reveal the extent of corruption that poisons the country and splashes the regime.
The files of this series of trials, which involve current or former ministers who remain out of reach of judges, are directly related to major projects, including infrastructures launched thanks to the oil windfall.
Thus, the Algerian justice began April 26 considering three important cases which deprived the treasury of billions of dollars, distributed in bribes and kickbacks. The first is related to the mammoth project of the east-west highway that was to extend over 1,216 km. Launched in 2006 for a period of four years and a budget of six billion dollars, the largest project of the President Bouteflika has not yet been completed.
Marred by poor workmanship, the cost jumped to more than $ 11 billion according to official estimates, or 17 billion according to other sources.
No less than sixteen people and seven foreign companies are prosecuted for corruption, money laundering and embezzlement of public funds.
Besides the East-West Highway case, a new trial of the group of former tycoon the fallen Golden Boy Rafik Khalifa, held in Algiers after being extradited from London in late 2013, opened yesterday, May 4 2015 at Blida Court. The bankruptcy of the group that bears his name (banking, air transport, real estate, media, etc.) in 2003 had caused damage estimated between 1.5 and 5 billion dollars to Algerian state.
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