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Algeria Goes for Corruptors of the Past

By SG Editor·
FIFA launches first football school program in West Africa for youth development.

FIFA inaugurates its first football school in West Africa, promoting youth football and sports education.

The former CEO of Algeria’s state-owned oil and gas group Sonatrach, Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for corruption in connection with the purchase of a refinery in Italy. Ahmed Mazighi, the former assistant to Mr. Ould Kaddour who had piloted the project to buy the refinery, was sentenced to seven years in prison. A former executive of the oil group was sentenced to three years in prison while another was released by the Algiers court, according to the lawyer. They were prosecuted in a corruption case related to the purchase by Sonatrach in 2018 of the Augusta refinery and various infrastructure in southern Italy from Esso Italy, a subsidiary of American ExxonMobil. The amount of the transfer had not been specified but according to the Algerian media, the oil group has paid $ 720 million, an amount considered excessive for an old refinery that began production in 1950. According to the prosecutor’s office, the transaction cost Sonatrach a total of 2.1 billion dollars, as the company also paid 916 million dollars to acquire the oil stored in the refinery and significant additional sums for renovation work.

SOURCE: AFRICA NEWS