The trial of the former secretary general of the General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA), Abdelmadjid Sidi Said has been postponed until November 10 by the financial center near the court of Sidi M hamed in Algiers.
While the other defendants, six in number, including two in detention, have been present at the hearing for 9 hours, Sidi Said marked by his absence from the dock. Hospitalized for several weeks, his state of health, we learn on the spot, “has deteriorated”.
Mr. Brahimi denounced the detention of Sidi Said, described moreover as “Insane” and called for his release. Request rejected by the prosecution, which considers that the defendant “ benefits from good health care and that the examining magistrate had objective reasons to put him in pre-trial detention.”
The judge decided to postpone the trial to November 10 after rejecting the request for release made by the defense of Sidi Said.
Aged 73 and suffering from serious illnesses, including cancer, which immobilized him in a wheelchair, the former secretary general of the UGTA, will face charges of “influence peddling,” abuse of power”, “squandering of public funds”, “receipt of undue benefits and illegal enrichment”.
Grievances related to his “interventions” with the executives of Mobilis and Sonatrach, to make two of his children benefit from public contracts with tens of millions of dinars.
For the judicial inquiry, Sidi Said would have used his position at the head of the central trade union, for the benefit of his children so that they obtain “advantageous contracts”. This constitutes, in the eyes of justice, not only “abuse of power and influence peddling”, but also “undue advantages”, punishable by law.
The judicial investigation had also targeted the fortune of the former secretary general of the UGTA, and that of the members of his family. The letters rogatory would have identified important real estate held both in Algeria and in France, but also vehicles and funds in foreign currency domiciled in Algerian and foreign bank accounts.
Sidi Said and his two children, had been brought before the judge of the economic and financial pole, of Algiers, very late in the evening from May 12 to 13, 2022, placed in detention, Abdelmadjid Sidi Said, and his son, and placed under judicial supervision, her second child and four other defendants.
