ALGIERS: A prosecutor said Tuesday that 45 people including senior officials connected to Algerian automobile tycoon Mahieddine Tahkout are under investigation for corruption and money laundering.
Of 56 persons of interest in the case, 45 are under judicial investigation, the Algiers prosecutor said in a statement broadcast by state television.
The investigating judge had “decided to place 19 of the accused in provisional detention and to conditionally release seven” suspects, the statement said.
The 19 others under investigation remained free without restrictions, it added.
A lawyer for Tahkout told AFP on Monday that the tycoon had been placed in provisional detention on corruption allegations.
Tahkout is a close associate of longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was forced to step down in April after weeks of mass protests.
Demonstrations have continued since the ailing president stepped down, as protesters demand that regime insiders also exit as a precursor to independent institutions being set up.
Thousands of students and teachers took to the streets of the capital on Tuesday, rejecting dialogue with interim President Abdelkader Bensalah.
Tahkout’s business group owns one of Algeria’s biggest automobile dealerships.
Among those accused alongside Tahkout are his son and two of his brothers, 38 civil servants and three employees of Tahkout’s businesses, according to the prosecutor.
The 45 under investigation are being probed for money laundering, concealing the illicit transfer of goods obtained through corruption, and squandering public money.
Among the remaining 11 persons of interest are a former prime minister, two former ministers and a current minister, the statement said, without giving names.
The positions occupied by the 11 at the time of the alleged events means they enjoy immunity, but their cases have been sent to the public prosecutor to decide on further action.
The justice ministry said Monday that Algeria’s upper house would vote on June 19 on whether to lift the parliamentary immunity of two Bouteflika-era ministers — Said Barkat and Djamel Ould Abbes.
Several prominent politicians and businessmen linked to Bouteflika have been detained or questioned in connection with corruption since the president was forced to step down after two decades in power.
Algeria car tycoon associates probed for graft: prosecutor
Algeria car tycoon associates probed for graft: prosecutor
German parliament speaker visits Gaza
BERLIN: The speaker of Germany’s lower house of parliament briefly visited the Israeli-controlled part of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the body said.
Julia Kloeckner spent “about an hour in the part of Gaza controlled by Israeli army forces,” parliament said, becoming the first German official to visit the territory since Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023 that sparked the devastating war.
Since the start of the conflict, Israel has drastically restricted access to the densely populated coastal strip.
In a statement shared by her office, Kloeckner said it was essential for politicians to have access to “reliable assessments of the situation” in Gaza.
“I expressly welcome the fact that Israel has now, for the first time, granted me, a parliamentary observer, access to the Gaza Strip,” she said.
However, she was only able to gain a “limited insight” into the situation on the ground during her trip, she said.
Kloeckner appealed to Israel to “continue on this path of openness” and emphasized that the so-called yellow line, which designates Israeli military zones inside the Gaza Strip, must “not become a permanent barrier.”
The German Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
Germany has been one of Israel’s staunchest supporters as the European power seeks to atone for the legacy of the Holocaust.
But in recent months, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has occasionally delivered sharp critiques of Israeli policy as German public opinion turns against Israel’s actions in Gaza.
In August, Germany imposed a partial arms embargo on Israel, which was lifted in November after the announcement of what has proved to be a fragile ceasefire for Gaza.
Merz visited Israel in December and reaffirmed Germany’s support.
But in a sign of lingering tension, Germany’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday criticized Israeli plans to tighten control over the occupied West Bank as a step toward “de facto annexation.”
