A revolution in the texts and the continuation of the war on corruption

The year 2021 was not like its predecessors in terms of the rhythm of events in the justice sector and the judiciary in Algeria. The latter documented the birth of a huge arsenal of new draft laws and a revolution in legislative texts, in addition to the creation of new bodies and poles, through which officials wanted The executive branch, building a separation wall with the suspicious practices that tarnished the reputation of the Algerian judiciary in the past and made doubts about the credibility of justice decisions.

The year 2021 was also a witness to the chapters of historical trials, which wrote down the details of an important era in the history of Algeria, and raised a lot of ink and sparked controversy that extended beyond the borders of the country, starting with a series of car installation scandals, through suspicious wheat deals, to cases of bribery and illegal privileges. The due person who uncovered unprecedented transgressions during the era of the former regime.

A supreme authority for the prevention of corruption and a special fund for looted funds

The beginning was through the decision to establish the supreme authority for transparency, prevention and combating corruption, which was included in the new constitution in its Article 204, which will undoubtedly support the justice sector as it is It enjoys broad powers after it replaced the National Authority for the Prevention and Combating of Corruption, which was established by virtue of Article 17 of Law 01/06 of February 20, 2006.

In the same way and on the occasion of the efforts of the country's supreme authorities to recover the looted funds resulting from the proceeds of corruption, the President of the Republic, the first judge of the country, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, decided to establish a special fund for confiscated or recovered looted funds and properties in the framework of anti-corruption cases, which came under Order 21 7 of July 8, which includes the supplementary finance law for the year 2021 in Article 43, which states: “A special allocation account No. 152-302 shall be opened in the public treasury writings under the title of a special fund for confiscated or recovered funds and property in the context of anti-corruption cases.”

The revenues of this fund consist of funds confiscated based on final court rulings, funds recovered from abroad, and the proceeds of the sale of confiscated or recovered properties.

A new pole to deter cybercrime

In order to continue advancing the judiciary wheel forward, and with the aim of reverting to a specialized judiciary to control the procedural and substantive part accurately, it was decided to create a “penal pole specialized in crimes related to information and communication technologies, and it is a pole with A national jurisdiction in charge of cybercrime, which, according to sector experts, will increase the effectiveness of the judicial specialization, as the responsibility for managing and implementing the tasks assigned to the pole, which the President of the Republic ordered to be created, at the level of a meeting of the Supreme Security Council last August, will be assigned to the head of the pole, the representative of the republic and a judge The investigation, and those who exercise their powers throughout the national territory, according to the text of Article 211 bis 23, where the legislative text defines 5 major crimes related to information and communication technologies, in which the representative of the republic at the pole, the investigating judge and the head of the same pole are concerned with “follow-up, investigation and judgment”, meaning issuing judicial rulings against those involved, after following them up and investigating the acts attributed to them.

Foremost among these crimes is “every crime that harms the security of the state and national defense,” in addition to the crimes of publishing and promoting false news among the public that may affect security, public tranquility, or the stability of society.

Anyone who publishes and promotes malicious news affecting public order and security of an organized or transnational nature will be followed. The legislative text did not ignore the cyber attacks on the information systems of national facilities, which are estimated at thousands daily, with the aim of hacking and destroying confidential databases.

The violation of automated data processing systems related to public administrations and institutions was included in the crimes of the pole, as well as trafficking in persons or human organs or smuggling of immigrants, and crimes of discrimination and hate.

Lifting the criminalization of management and deterring speculators

And in implementation of the policy of promoting local development, including advancing the national economy by encouraging investments and creating jobs, and motivating local officials to exercise their duties by working in accordance with the law without obstructing projects and without falling into the trap of corruption, I approve The President of the Republic, last August, lifted restrictions criminalizing the act of management, pending the amendment of laws and the lifting of this criminalization by the force of law, as the new draft will include an article that allows the judge to issue orders to dismiss the case in cases that were opened by the judicial authorities and are under investigation, in which it was proven that the accused They did not commit criminal acts, but management responsibility, given that the management error could be a civil error, or a disciplinary error, but not a mistake that would be of a penal nature.

The identification of these errors under the law will also allow us to know the field of application of decriminalizing the act of management, which should exclude corruption, misuse of social property, or a certain number of acts carried out by contracting interests in violation of the laws of public procurement, “and, of course, all of these The details must “secure the officials,” who are called upon to make important decisions during their careers.

Similar to the review of the two organic laws related to the Basic Law of the Judiciary and the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, in addition to the review of the Code of Ethics of the Judge Profession and the Judicial Inspection Function, on the 1st of this December, the two draft laws related to penalties and combating illegal speculation were approved. Penal policy with developments in Algerian society and the strengthening of the national legislative system.

The amendment of the Penal Code as revealed by the Minister of Justice, Keeper of Seals Abd al-Rashid Tabbi, aims to protect public facilities and deter actions that threaten the comfort and security of the citizen and restore the state’s credibility, while the law that includes combating illegal speculation aims to “establish a special legislative framework To deter the phenomenon that is experiencing a dangerous development in our country, it was embodied in a wave of actions that caused the deterioration of the purchasing power of Algerians.

In addition, the judicial agenda continued in 2021, dealing with heavy corruption files, as the first case that was broadcast at the level of the Criminal Chamber of the Algerian Judicial Council, in early January, was the car installation file No. 1 and the hidden financing of the electoral campaign, “or What is known as “inflating the wheels” in its third edition after accepting the appeal in cassation by the Supreme Court, headed by the President of the Sidi M'hamed Court, Judge Donia Zad Guellati, which upheld the verdict of conviction against former Prime Ministers Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal to 15 and 12 years in prison for each One of them, with the addition of the charge of illegal enrichment to Ouyahia on the background of his confession of receiving gold bars as gifts from the Gulf princes and selling them in the “Square”, while the sentence was reduced against the former Ministers of Industry, Youssef Yousfi and Mahjoub Bedda, to 3 years and two years in prison, respectively. And the acquittal of the former governor of Boumerdes, Nouria Zerhouni, of all charges, so that the verdicts in this case become final.

The appealed cases of the judgments issued by the Court of First Instance of the Economic and Financial Pole of Sidi M’hamed in the Algiers Judicial Council continued to be broadcast, both at the level of the First Criminal Chamber headed by Judge Abdelaziz Ayad, similar to the trial of the former Director General of National Security, Major General Abdelghani Hamel and his family. Or at the level of the Sixth Criminal Chamber of the same council, headed by Judge Moumen, which considered the last file in which the former director of the establishment of the “Sahel” Abdelhamid Melzi, and the former first ministers Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal were prosecuted on December 19.

In addition, during the year 2021, the judiciary witnessed a unique and previous trial in the history of Algerian justice, in terms of the facts and the persons following it. Hall No. 1 of the Criminal Court of First Instance of Casablanca, Algiers, was the scene of an exciting trial of the former Minister of Justice, Tayeb Louh. And the brother of the late President Said Bouteflika and a number of executives of the Ministry of Justice and judges, their sessions ended with the imposition of a 6-year sentence against Tayeb Louh and two years in prison, against all Said Bouteflika and the Inspector General of the Ministry of Justice Ben Hashem al-Tayeb, and the head of the “formerly Afsio” businessmen forum, Ali Haddad, While the rulings of the Criminal Court of First Instance of Casablanca were sent down in cold and peace to each of the former Secretary-General of the Ministry of Justice, Lajeen Zaouawi, and the investigating judge of the former Sidi M’hamed Court, Samoun Sayed Ahmed, and the former representative of the Republic for the same court, Al-Bey Khaled, and the former president of the Algerian Judicial Council, Mokhtar Ben Haraj, Where they were acquitted of all charges against them.

The financial and economic penal pole… the striking force of corruption

In contrast, the National Criminal Court in combating economic and financial crime, the Algiers Judicial Council, located in the Sidi M'hamed Court, is considered the beating heart of the legal mechanism to combat corruption, headed by the judge Muhammad al-Kamal bin Boudiaf, who supervised qualitative trials during the year 2021, similar to the trial sessions of the former Director General of State Establishment “The Coast”, Hamid Melzi and those with him and the “Condor” complex, as well as the former Minister of Post and Communication Technologies Iman Hoda Pharaon, along with the Kharbush brothers who His rulings will be issued, next Monday, corresponding to January 3, as these files included a large number of defendants, which required days to finish broadcasting them, as well as needing steadfastness, patience, and a long breath to fold them, which was followed by the head of Qutb Ben Boudiaf, who also ruled in the governors’ files. The former governors of the states of Blida and Tipaza, “Mustafa Layady and Moussa Ghalay,” as well as the governor of the state of Bejaia.

What distinguished the national economic and financial penal pole during the year 2021, is the recent creation of two branches, added to the branch headed by the head of the economic and financial penal pole, Ben Boudiaf, with the aim of reducing the burden on the latter, as the main agent of the republic for the same pole undertakes the task of distributing The files that were referred by the investigating judges to the trial scheduling department at the level of these branches, while the investigations, which exceeded 40 files, continued at the level of the interrogation rooms of the same pole, where there was a rapid pace of referral of files in recent days.

And the year 2021 ends, with the programming of other heavy corruption files, as the first branch of the economic and financial penal pole, headed by the head of the pole, Ben Boudiaf, will consider this Monday, January 3, the file of the “Mitihi brothers” and the file of Sonatrach in its apartment related to the scandal of the completion of the LNG boat in Arzew, Oran Known as GNL3 and followed by the former Minister of Energy and Mines, Chakib Khalil al-Far from justice and those with him.

While the judge of the second branch of the economic and financial penal pole proceeded, the trial sessions of two heavy corruption cases also took place, namely “Amenheid”, in which the “Shalghoum” brothers and former Prime Minister Abdel-Malik Salal and those with them are being pursued, as well as the case of the brothers Ammar bin Omar, in which the two first ministers are also being followed. Ex-presidents Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal, and a number of ministers, governors and executives in various sectors, and the case of the former governor of the wilaya of Medea, Mustapha Layadi, was programmed yesterday, Wednesday, December 29th.

As for the judge of the third branch of the same pole, he will supervise the trial sessions of Ammar Ghoul, Abdelkader Qadi and those with him, which are scheduled for today, December 30. He will also look into two heavy corruption files, the first related to the former Minister of Housing, Abdel Waheed Tamar, and 35 accused businessmen and children of officials. And officers who are in civil and military prisons, and the second is related to “the former Minister of Industry, Jamila Tamzirt, along with 17 other defendants who are under judicial control.

The referral of the “corruption file in the culture sector,” in which the former Minister of Culture, Khalida Toumi, and 30 persons among the department officials, charged with implementing demonstration programs, local officials, and those who ordered the disbursement, are being followed up, is the last file that was referred by the investigating judge, the Fifth Chamber of the Economic and Financial Penal Pole, to Scheduling section, 72 hours before the end of the year 2021.

Will the year 2022 witness the closing of the last chapters of the corruption trials opened by the judicial agenda since the summer of 2019, and the completion of the arrangement of the judicial house..? Let the government move to other stages of serious and tireless work within the framework of the course of justice reform, and why not initiate field steps to recover the looted funds abroad, in implementation of the government’s action plan and the program of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, so that the year 2022 will be the year of breakthrough at all levels and levels, but with a strike With an iron hand, whoever begs himself to destroy the national economy, waste public money, tamper with the Algerians' livelihood, or try to destabilize the security and stability of the country.