UAE extradites ex-head of Algeria state energy firm on corruption charges

Algeria’s state-owned energy giant Sonatrach in the capital Algiers on 8 February 2015 [FAROUK BATICHE/AFP/Getty Images]

The United Arab Emirates yesterday extradited the former chief of Algeria’s state oil and gas company Sonatrach to face trial over alleged involvement in corruption cases, Algerian state television reported.

Algerian television broadcast shared footage of Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour’s arrival, showing him handcuffed and surrounded by security officers.

Last February, the Gulf country arrested Ould Kaddour in Dubai after a court in Algiers and the Algerian judiciary issued an international arrest warrant for Ould Kaddour.

Algerian authorities allege Ould Kaddour is involved in several corruption cases linked to deals signed by Sonatrach.

Ould Kaddour was chief executive of Sonatrach from March 2017 to April 2019. He was close to former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who stepped down in 2019 after mass protests against his plan to stand for a fifth term.

READ: Algeria mulls Morocco King’s reconciliation offer with ‘caution’

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.