2 ex-ministers in Algeria sent to prison on corruption charges

Source: Xinhua| 2019-07-18 23:27:01|Editor: yan
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ALGIERS, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Algeria's Supreme Court on Thursday placed two ex-ministers under custody as part of a crackdown on corruption involving senior government officials as well as businessmen, according to the state-run APS news agency.

Former Minister of Transport Amar Ghoul was remanded under custody over a probe related to the cases of businessman Ali Heddad, former chairman of the Employers Forum, and businessman Mahieddine Tahkout, whose group dominates university transportation and owns the Hyundai car assembly plant.

The court also said in a statement that it heard the former Minister of Industry Mahdjoub Beda before being sent to investigative custody on Thursday.

Beda is involved in the case of jailed businessman Hassan Arbaoui, the owner of KIA car assembly plant.

Some former senior government officials, including two prime ministers - Abdelmalek Sellal and Ahmed Ouyahia - were already placed under custody.

This series of probes coincide with popular protests in Algeria since Feb. 22, as demonstrators denounced bad governance and corruption and called for democracy and the rule of law.

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