Algeria Jails Ex-Sonatrach Head for 15 Years for Graft

Former head of state energy giant Sonatrach Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour. (Sonatrach)
Former head of state energy giant Sonatrach Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour. (Sonatrach)
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Algeria Jails Ex-Sonatrach Head for 15 Years for Graft

Former head of state energy giant Sonatrach Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour. (Sonatrach)
Former head of state energy giant Sonatrach Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour. (Sonatrach)

An Algerian court on Tuesday handed a 15-year prison sentence to the former head of state energy giant Sonatrach in a corruption case.

Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour had been on trial over the 2018 purchase of the Sicilian Augusta oil refinery.

According to Algerian media, the state oil and gas firm had paid ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Italiana $720 million for the site and associated infrastructure, seen as overpriced for a refinery in operation since the 1950s.

The deal aimed at reducing the bill for importing refined petroleum materials from abroad. However, after sacking Ould Kaddour in 2019, the company borrowed $250 million from foreign banks to repair the refinery.

Upon its conclusion, Ould Kaddour hailed the “profitable project,” which he claimed would provide the public treasury with large sums of money to be spent on importing oil-derived products in a short period of time.

Ould Kaddour, accused of squandering public funds, abuse of office and conflict of interest, was “sentenced to 15 years in prison without parole,” his lawyer said.

The court also sentenced his wife to two years in prison and his son in absentia to ten years in prison and issued an international arrest warrant against him.

Sonatrach's former deputy chief Ahmed Mazighi, who oversaw the purchase, was jailed for seven years.

Another former Sonatrach official indicted in the case was jailed for three years and a fourth was released.

The indictment list also includes “concluding deals in violation of legislative and regulatory provisions to enable others to enjoy unjustified privileges, illegal use of public and private funds for the benefit of others, as well as abuse of power to benefit from exemptions and reductions in taxes and fees.”

The purchase price, initially set at 733 million dollars, had amounted to $2 billion to the actual session of the property.

Ould Kaddour affirmed that the refinery had indeed cost the initial amount and that the difference, namely more than 1.1 billion dollars, included customs bonds, maintenance and renovation costs, as well as environmental compliance.

It is noteworthy that the United Arab Emirates extradited Ould Kaddour in early August. It had arrested him in Dubai after a court in Algiers earlier issued an international arrest warrant against him.



France Expels 12 Algerian Officials in Tit-for-Tat Move amid Diplomatic Tensions

Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
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France Expels 12 Algerian Officials in Tit-for-Tat Move amid Diplomatic Tensions

Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)

France said Tuesday it was expelling 12 Algerian diplomatic officials a day after Algeria announced the expulsion of the same number of French officials in escalating tensions between the two countries.

Algeria said Monday that its expulsion of 12 French officials was over the arrest of an Algerian consular official by French authorities in a kidnapping case, but relations between the two sides have been deteriorating since last summer. That's when France shifted its position to support Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara — a disputed territory claimed by the pro-independence Polisario Front, which receives support from Algeria.

Tensions further peaked in November after Algeria arrested French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who is an outspoken critic of the Algerian regime. He has since been sentenced to five years in prison — a verdict he subsequently appealed.

In addition to what French officials called the "symmetrically" calibrated expulsion of 12 Algerian officials, France's ambassador to Algiers also was being recalled home for consultations, a statement from the French presidential palace said Tuesday.

It said Algerian authorities were responsible for "a brutal deterioration in our bilateral relations."

French counterterrorism prosecutors said three Algerian nationals in total were arrested last week and handed preliminary charges of "kidnapping or arbitrary detention … in connection with a terrorist undertaking."

The group is allegedly involved in the April 2024 kidnapping of an Algerian influencer, Amir Boukhors, or Amir DZ, a known critic of the Algerian government with 1.1 million followers on TikTok.

The latest surge in acrimony followed a brief easing of tensions about two weeks ago when French President Emmanuel Macron called Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune. French officials said they had agreed to revive bilateral relations.