Algerian former Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia has been ordered by the Supreme Court on Wednesday to be placed in custody after he faced a judge in connection with a corruption investigation, state television reported.
Ouyahia, who left the government in March as part of a cabinet reshuffle, is under investigation over cases including “awarding illegal privileges”, state TV said, without giving details.
He is the leader of Algeria’s second largest party, the Democratic National Rally (RND).
Ouyahia is the most senior politician to be detained since mass protests broke out earlier this year demanding the removal of the ruling elite and the prosecution of people demonstrators see as corrupt.
Hundreds of people celebrated the decision outside a prison where prominent businessmen are also being held over corruption allegations, private television channels showed.
His former transport minister, Abdelghani Zaalane, later also appeared before the court in connection with a corruption investigation. The Supreme Court later placed him in custody.
Neither men’s lawyers could be reached by phone for comment.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika stepped down on April 2 under pressure from the army and protests that broke out on February 22. Zaalane had been named campaign manager for Bouteflika for an April 18 presidential election, which was cancelled.
The army is now the most powerful institution in Algeria and its chief Ahmed Gaed Salah has urged the judiciary to investigate all people suspected of being involved in corruption.
Several senior figures including another former prime minister, Abdelmalek Sellal, and eight former ministers appeared last month in a court in Algiers on suspicion of corruption.
Bouteflika’s youngest brother, Said, and two former intelligence chiefs have been placed in custody by a military judge for “harming the army’s authority and plotting against state authority”.
Several prominent businessmen, some of them close to Bouteflika, have been detained pending trial.
Protesters are now seeking the departure of interim President Abdelkader Bensalah and Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui, both seen as part of the elite that has ruled the North African country since independence from France in 1962.
Ouyahia’s RND supports the interim government, but is not part of it.
Authorities have postponed a presidential election previously planned for July 4, citing a lack of candidates. No new date has been set for the vote.
