The appearance of former Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia handcuffed at his brother's funeral causes a stir
The temporary departure of Ahmed Ouyahia from prison to attend the funeral of his brother Laïfa, who died on Sunday after a heart attack, was covered on the internet amidst the expectation of a large part of the Algerian people. Many images and videos of the handcuffed former prime minister of Algeria circulated widely on social networks because of the relevance of this character, in prison for corruption and embezzlement, one of the endemic evils of the political and public sphere of the North African country.
One of the most important events of recent times in Algeria was the funeral of lawyer Laïfa Ouyahia, the younger brother of former Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia. The latter was allowed to go to the cemetery of Qaridi to attend the funeral.
All eyes were on the former Algerian president, imprisoned since June 2019 in El Harrach prison, where he is serving an over 10-year sentence for corruption. Photographers on the scene rushed to photograph the former head of government, who appeared in handcuffs and escorted by police, wearing the now-typical mask to prevent contagion from the current COVID-19 disease pandemic. The photos travelled around the Internet like wildfire and triggered many comments on social networks.
Most of them were happy about the captivity of the former prime minister, even showing their "satisfaction" to see Ahmed Ouyahia in this state; there were even several people who criticized the fact that he had been given permission to attend the funeral of his relative in prison.
Ahmed Ouyahia had been prime minister since August 2017, when he replaced Abdelmadjid Tebboune, in office for three months and currently serving as president of the republic following the elections held in December 2019. Ouyahia was replaced in March 2019 by Nuredin Bedui after popular protests against former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's intention to run for re-election to his fifth term. Previously, Ouyahia had also served as chief executive officer on up to four occasions since 1995.
The former prime minister under President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been in prison since June 2019 as he has been implicated in many corruption cases under investigation. Under Ahmed Ouyahia, millions of dinars allegedly disappeared in light of the horrific figures published by the Algerian Court of Accounts in its 2017 public debt report. According to the agency, the total public debt increased by 43.47%, with an amount equivalent to 8.44% of the country's GDP. This astonishing increase was due to non-conventional financing (increase in the external debt and printing of money), a tool authorized by article 45-bis of the ordinance number 11-03 of August 2003 on the finance law, as recalled by the Observ Algerie media. With regard to the year 2020, many experts believe that the use of the foreign debt and the printing of money is inevitable in order to face the economic crisis that Algeria is going through. A crisis that has been aggravated by the halt in economic activity left by the new coronavirus pandemic and by the fall in energy prices, taking into account the importance of the gas sector for the North African country, for example.
One of the most relevant cases concerning Ouyahia and for which he is now on trial is that of the businessman Ali Haddad. Laïfa was defending his brother in the judicial process, which was suspended due to the death of the lawyer from a heart attack he had in the court of Sidi M'hamed, where his brother appeared as a defendant, according to several media reports.
The figure of Laïfa Ouyahia was loved and respected in Algerian society and in the lawyers' guild, and his death aroused great grief and mourning. The opposite situation was seen in the public reaction to the person of Ahmed, criticised for his scandals linked to economic and political corruption. Just at a time when Algeria has been going through months of strong popular protests (led by the so-called Hirak citizens' movement) that have been taking place a couple of times every week for more than a year, with the exception of these last three months marked by the mandatory confinement and social distancing decreed by the authorities to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The Algerian citizenry rose up against the political corruption and economic crisis of a public system dominated by the same political caste over the last few decades and subjected to the great power exercised by the army in the power sphere.
Involved in the case of Ali Haddad, Ahmed Ouyahia was again summoned to appear in court in Sidi M'hamed, along with other former senior leaders, including former Prime Minister Abdel Malek Sellal. The trial of Ali Haddad, a businessman and former president of the employers' association of the Business Leaders Forum (FCE), opened in the court in the capital, Algiers. The former president of FCE appeared with the two former prime ministers, Abdel Malek Sellal and Ahmed Ouyahia and other former ministers.
Among the charges are obtaining privileges, benefits and public contracts in violation of the law, waste of public funds, abuse of office, conflict of interest and corruption in the awarding of public contracts.
Former ministers on trial include Amara Benyounès, Abdessalem Bouchouareb (who fled abroad), Youcef Yousfi and Mahdjoub Bedda, Abdelkader Ouali, Abdelghani Zaalane and Ammar Ghoul.
The preliminary investigation had revealed unprecedented data on the preponderance of businessman Ali Haddad in the public arena. From 2000 to 2019, the ETRHB group (Entreprise des Travaux Routiers, Hydrauliques et Bâtiments), the main private public works group led by Haddid, benefited from 124 public contracts (most of them between 2012 and 2018), worth billions.
The research highlights in particular the contracts obtained by ETRHB with foreign companies; such as the Portuguese Teixeira, the Turkish Mapa and Ozgun, the Chinese CSCEC and Chec, the Italian Rizzani Todini, or the Spanish Ofcc, Inerica, Enyse, as recalled by elwatan.com.