Chakib Khelil, the former Algerian Minister of Energy close to Bouteflika, is in the crosshairs of justice, prosecuted for “corruption in the case of the gas complex of Arzew”, “granting of industrial privileges”, ” abuse of office” and “conclusion of contracts in breach of laws and regulations”.
An ex-close to Bouteflika is in the sights of justice. The trial for corruption of the former Algerian Minister of Energy Chakib Khelil, in office for 10 years under the presidency of the former head of state, to whom he was close, has opened in Algiers. Chakib Khelil, as well as the former boss of the public hydrocarbon giant Sonatrach, Mohamed Meziane, tried during the same trial, are prosecuted for “corruption in the case of the gas complex of Arzew (Oran – West)”, “granting of ‘undue privileges’, ‘abuse of office’ and ‘conclusion of contracts in violation of laws and regulations, according to the APS press agency.
Mr. Khelil, on the run abroad, is tried in absentia while Mr. Meziane is serving a prison sentence in Algeria in the context of another case. During this trial, which is being held at the economic and financial criminal center of the Sidi M’hamed court in Algiers, several foreign companies active in the energy sector are also being prosecuted, according to APS, which does not specify their names. Mr. Khelil, 82, left the government in 2010, after being splashed by accusations of financial embezzlement against the CEO and senior executives of the Sonatrach group, who was finally convicted.
In 2013, the Algerian justice had issued an international arrest warrant against him as part of an investigation into the payment of commissions by a subsidiary of the Italian giant ENI for obtaining contracts in Algeria, a scandal which made the subject of several lawsuits in Italy and Algeria.
A refugee in the United States, he returned to Algeria in 2016 after the charges against him were dropped before leaving when the procedure was relaunched.
After Bouteflika’s fall on April 2, 2019, under the pressure of demonstrations by the Hirak protest movement and the army, the justice system launched a series of investigations into the cases in which the men around him were involved. Several former senior politicians, as well as powerful businessmen, have been sentenced, in particular for acts of corruption.
