Latest News
BREAKING: Former Minister Gets 20-Year Jail (See Why)
BREAKING: Former Minister Gets 20-Year Jail (See Why)
An Algerian court on Monday sentenced in absentia ex-energy ministry Chakib Khelil, who served under former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, to 20 years in prison on corruption charges, local media reported.
The Sidi M’Hamed court in Algiers also fined the longtime former minister, who served for half of Bouteflika’s 20-year tenure, two million dinars (about $14,200).
A former head of the North African country’s oil and gas firm Sonatrach, Mohamed Meziane, was sentenced to five years in prison and a one-million dinar fine in the same trial.
Meziane is already serving time in a separate case.
The two men’s trial opened on February 1, with the prosecution demanding 20- and 10-year sentences for them respectively.
Read Also BREAKING: ‘Killer’ Proprietor Makes U-Turn, Denies Killing Hanifa
The two former officials stood accused, along with others, of corruption in connection with the Arzew gas complex in the western province of Oran, as well as “granting undue privileges”, abuse of their positions and “concluding contracts in violation of laws and regulations”, according to national news agency APS.
In 2013, the Algerian judiciary issued an international arrest warrant for Khelil over a case involving contracts between Sonatrach and foreign companies, including SAIPEM, a unit of Italian energy giant ENI.
Prosecutors in Milan had accused SAIPEM of paying bribes to obtain contracts in Algeria, and the subsidiary was fined in 2018, before being cleared by an appeals court in 2020.
Khelil, now 82, quit his post in 2010 and moved to the United States after being associated with a scandal involving high-ranking Sonatrach officials who were later jailed for corruption.
He returned to Algeria in 2016 after the cases were dropped — then left again after Bouteflika’s resignation in 2019 that sparked a string of investigations into graft by his officials.
For More News Join Our WhatsApp Group With This Link Below
-
Latest News2 weeks agoTinubu Announces New Appointment, Sends Nominee To Senate For Confirmation
-
Politics1 week agoBREAKING: Tinubu Inaugurates New Ministers
-
Politics2 weeks agoWike Clears Air On Chinda, Says INEC Candidate List Drops In July
-
Latest News1 week agoINEC Drops Final List Of Candidates For June 2026 Bye-Elections
-
Latest News7 days agoAbubakar Momoh Engages CCECC President At Global Infrastructure Forum In China
-
Latest News2 weeks agoPolice Provide Fresh Update On Release Of Abducted Oyo Pupils, Teachers
-
Politics4 days agoAPC Rules Out Any Review Of 2027 Primary Election Results
-
Latest News4 days agoObasanjo Teases Abdulsalami: “I And Gowon May Not Be Alive When You Hit 100
-
Latest News5 days agoKidnap Suspects Reveal How They Abducted Adelabu’s Sister And Twin Sons
-
Sports2 weeks agoArsenal Announce Exit Of 15 Players As Contract Discussions Continue With Three Others
-
Entertainment2 weeks agoLove In Ghana! Peller Proposes To Jarvis As Romantic Video Goes Viral
-
Latest News3 days agoBenin Market Kidnapping: Okpebholo Orders Full Investigation