Bosses jailed in Algeria bank fraud
Former executives guilty after $1bn disappears from bank.
Published On 22 Mar 2007
The second most severe sentence was handed down to Djamel Guellimi, the ex-deputy chief executive of the Khalifa Bank, who was given a 15-year term and fined more than $13,000.
Youcef Akli, the top official at Khalifa Bank, was given 10 years in jail and also fined the same amount.
Bank’s founder in exile
Rafiq Khalifa, the bank’s founder, was sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the financial scandal. However he has living been in Britain for the last four years and is fighting attempts to extradite him.
Prosecutors said that he had embezzleent around $47.6m (3.2bn Algerian dinars) of the money that is missing from the bank’s accounts.
Life sentences have also been sought for nine other suspects being tried in absentia in the case, including a former Algerian government minister and the ex-governor of the Bank of Algeria.
During the peak of the bank’s success, the Khalifa group, its parent company owned an airline and employed more than 20,000 people.
Source: News Agencies