In Argelia, General Tewfik takes revenge against his successor at the head of the secret services
Generals Mohamed Mediene alias Tewfik and Othmane Tartag alias Bachir. The latter had worked under the former for 25 years. But as fate would have it, he succeeded him at the head of the services in September 2015, and the two men found themselves behind bars in 2019 for a story that pitted them against each other.
Mohamed Achraf, 35, only son of General Athmane Tartag, alias Bachir, is an unremarkable boy. Unlike the children of many generals, he has never been in the news, either good or bad. According to judicial sources, we have just learned that legal proceedings have been initiated against him for "acquiring undue advantages", "bank credits" when setting up his company and "influence peddling" by taking advantage of the fact that he is the son of a senior army officer to illegally award himself a number of contracts".
An accusation that could be levelled at any son or daughter of an Algerian army general. The best-known example on the Algerian street is that of Lotfi Nezzar, son of General Khaled Nezzar, the former Minister of National Defense. He owns property in Spain (including a 98 m2 apartment in Barcelona and a 6,000 m2 plot of land in Tarragona), Monaco and France, for which he has never been prosecuted. Even his 6-year prison sentence and that of his wife Chahinèze for falsifying documents and evading capital (caught red-handed) have been erased, and the grandson of Rahal Nezzar, who took up arms against the fighters in the war of liberation, continues to roll in gold.
According to sources close to the case, the affair involving General Tartag's son was indeed the work of General Tewfik. Acting in the shadows and one of the main players in occult power, the former head of the Department of Intelligence and Security (DRS) has an old score to settle with General Athmane Tartag.
In 1999, on his arrival at the head of the country's supreme magistracy and during his first visit to the Ministry of National Defense (MDN), the late Abdelaziz Bouteflika requested the heads of two senior officers. The first was Colonel Belkacem Boukhari, the MDN's Central Director of Military Justice, and the second was General Athmane Tartag, alias Bachir, head of the Main Military Investigation Center (CPMI), part of the Internal Security Directorate under the Department of Intelligence and Security (DRS) headed by Lieutenant General Mohamed Mediène, alias Tewfik. The former was disbarred within 48 hours of receiving orders from the President of the Republic.
The latter enjoyed the indulgence of his boss, and was sent to an international organization to stay out of sight until the storm passed. A few years later, he was recalled to the DRS boss's cabinet as an advisor, before being appointed in 2012 to head the Homeland Security Department, replacing General Ahmed Kherfi, suspected of working for the clan of Saïd Bouteflika, the President's younger brother. In turn, General Bachir was snapped up by the same Saïd Bouteflika, who was beginning to gain weight to the point of thinking of removing the irremovable General Tewfik from his post. He succeeded in September 2015. And General Major Bachir was appointed his successor. A difficult blow for the man who had weathered all storms to remain at the head of the Algerian secret service for a quarter of a century. A record to be entered in the Guinness Book of Records.
In 2019, General Tewfik makes his return to the scene of occult power thanks to the popular revolution of February 19, commonly known as the "Hirak". He was asked by Saïd Bouteflika to find a solution to the crisis in which Bouteflika's power was embroiled. A meeting was organized at the villa "Dar El-Afia" between the two men and the president of the Workers' Party, the Trotskyist Louiza Hannoune. General Tewfik had opposed the presence of his successor at the head of the services.
Having learned of the meeting from retired general and former President of the Republic Liamine Zeroual, Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaïd Salah, then Deputy Minister of National Defense and Army Chief of Staff, flew into a rage and summoned General Bachir for further information. The latter offered him on a silver platter the recording of the meeting, which he had made without the knowledge of the three participants, who a few days later found themselves under arrest for "undermining the authority of the army" and "plotting against the authority of the State".
General Bachir, who had not taken part in the meeting, accompanied Saïd Bouteflika and General Tewfik to the Blida military prison. They were each sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment at the trial and appeal hearings. General Bachir boycotted both hearings to avoid meeting his two accomplices, who had learned that their meeting had been recorded without their knowledge and handed over to Gaïd Salah, their sworn enemy.
On January 2, 2021, all hell broke loose. One year after the disappearance of Lieutenant General Gaïd Salah, the three defendants, Generals Tewfik and Bachir and Saïd Bouteflika, the younger brother of the deposed President of the Republic, were acquitted. This follows the Supreme Court's decision on November 18 to overturn the initial judgments handed down by the Blida military court.
However, the joy of the three defendants was short-lived for General Bachir and Saïd Bouteflika. The President's brother was transferred to the El-Harrach civil prison. He was also charged with corruption and abuse of power. As for General Bachir, the case against him was closed after a final judgment had been handed down against the defendants. This is the case of "Maya", the alleged hidden daughter of Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Zoulikha-Chafika Nachinache, a businesswoman who had prospered through rumor and her connections in high places, was sentenced by the Tipaza Court of Appeal to 12 years' imprisonment, along with her daughter and a host of ministers and senior officials. Along with two other senior officers, colonels Smaïn and Lotfi, general Bachir Tartag is being prosecuted under article 29 of law 06/01 on preventing and combating corruption.
They were convicted for "failing to respect" the procedure for preserving funds seized and deposited at the Central Bank. These included large sums of money in dinar and foreign currency, and over 17 kg of gold recovered following a search of her two houses at the Moretti state residence, west of the capital, where she resided. According to the prosecution, the proceeds of the search were to be deposited at the barracks and not at the central bank. A most far-fetched accusation, given that the central bank is an Algerian state institution, and the Benaknoun barracks has no safe for this kind of loot.
But when General Tewfik's hand is behind the deal, anything goes. It's revenge against the man he considers to have betrayed him twice. The first time, by siding with Saïd Bouteflika, advisor to the President of the Republic but above all Head of State by proxy. The second time, by recording the "Dar El-Afia" meeting without his knowledge.
Not content with the 6-year sentence handed down to his enemy, General Tewfik, who is regaining a great deal of power in the shadow of the army's current Chief of Staff, General Chengriha, the regime's real strongman, with whom he spends long evenings in his villa (the two men are neighbors), went digging into the affairs of General Bachir's only son to pin a case of corruption and money laundering on him. The case involves no fewer than 12 defendants.
But the main defendant, Mohamed Achraf Tartag, is outside Algerian territory. This will enrage General Tewfik even more, as he has just given us the final straw.