An appeals court in Algeria on Thursday sentenced the alleged daughter of ousted President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to 12 years in prison after she was convicted in corruption cases.
The Appeals Court of Tipaza fined Zoulikha Nachinache, known as Maya, 6 million dinars, and ruled to confiscate all of her real estate assets.
The court also issued a ruling against a number of officials from Bouteflika’s former regime who have been involved in the same case. They include Abdelghani Zaalane, former minister of transport and the last director of Bouteflika's presidential campaign, who was sentenced to eight years in prison, former minister of labor, employment, and social security Mohamed El-Ghazi and Bouteflika’s national security director-general Abdelghani Hamel, who were both sentenced to ten years in jail.
The three former officials were each fined 1 million dinars.
The case dates back to the Bouteflika era, when Maya claimed to be the secret daughter of the president, with the aim of becoming closer to the economic sector ministers and enabling businessmen to obtain projects in exchange for bribes and gifts.
Maya appeared days ago at court where she was asked about her properties. She said that she was a businesswoman who works in the field of exports and imports which generated her massive income. She denied that she had claimed to be Bouteflika’s daughter. Her father, she added, has been friends with the former president since the days of revolution.
Further, she stated that former governor of Chlef, El-Ghazi granted one of her daughters a property in the region. Maya also benefited from 15,000 hectares of land to establish a park and another 5,000 hectares to launch a fuel services project.
The project was never implemented due to licensing issues and so she had to sell the property in violation of the investment law.
