Algerian ex-minister sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison on corruption charges

An Algerian court sentenced former Energy Minister Chakib Jelil to 20 years in prison in absentia on Thursday for crimes committed during his ten years in office under former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

In 2013, the Algerian judiciary issued an international arrest warrant for Jelil, then a refugee in the United States, as part of an investigation into the payment of opaque commissions by a subsidiary of Italian energy company ENI to obtain contracts in Algeria, a scandal that has been the subject of several trials in Italy and Algeria.

The state news agency APS reported that the Sidi M'Hamed Court in Algiers also sentenced other former high-ranking officials to prison terms ranging from five to ten years for corruption, including "squandering public funds to conclude contracts with foreign companies".

They are former Public Works Minister Amar Ghoul, former Foreign Minister Mohamed Bedjaoui and two former heads of the state hydrocarbon company Sonatrach, Noureddine Bouterfa and Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour. Two other defendants were acquitted, it added.

During the 2019 election campaign, the current president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, promised to recover funds embezzled by the Algerian oligarchy during Bouteflika's 20-year rule, and since then there have been numerous trials that have seized assets and real estate.