ALGIERS — An Algerian former energy minister under
late president
Abdelaziz Bouteflika went on trial on Monday on corruption
charges.
اضافة اعلان
Chakib Khelil, in post for half of Bouteflika's two-decade
reign, is on trial in absentia in a case also involving former director of
state hydrocarbons giant Sonatrach, Mohamed Meziane.
The two are facing charges of graft over a natural gas
complex near Oran, as well as "granting of undue privileges",
"abuse of office", and "conclusion of contracts in violation of
laws and regulations", according to the official APS agency.
Meziane is already in prison over another graft case, one of
several high-ranking Bouteflika-era officials to have been jailed since the
strongman was forced to resign in 2019 following vast protests against his bid
for a fifth term.
Several foreign energy firms are also facing charges in the
trial, said APS, without naming them.
Khelil, now 82, quit his post in 2010 and moved to the US
after being associated with a scandal involving high-ranking Sonatrach
officials who were later jailed for corruption.
In 2013, authorities issued an international arrest warrant
against him over commissions allegedly paid by Italian energy giant
ENI for
contracts in Algeria, the subject of various investigations in both countries.
Khelil returned to
Algeria in 2016 after the cases were
dropped — then left again after Bouteflika's resignation, which sparked a
string of investigations into graft by his officials.
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