The News
Thursday 28 of March 2024

Algerian ex-prime minister summoned in corruption probe


AP Photo,FILE - In this April 12, 2019 file photo, protestors carry a large flag and chant slogans during a demonstration against the country's leadership, in Algiers. Algerian authorities are leading a
AP Photo,FILE - In this April 12, 2019 file photo, protestors carry a large flag and chant slogans during a demonstration against the country's leadership, in Algiers. Algerian authorities are leading a "clean hands" campaign aimed at rooting out corruption that has caught up top tycoons and former government ministers. Corruption is one of the major complaints of the masses of protesters who helped drive longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika from office earlier this month. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy, File)

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algerian ex-Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia has gone before a prosecutor as part of a wide-ranging corruption investigation that has targeted figures in the entourage of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, forced to resign after two decades in office.

Ouyahia was being questioned on Tuesday on counts of “dilapidation of public funds” and “granting illegal benefits” for possible charges.

The current finance minister and former Bank of Algeria Governor Mohamed Loukal was questioned on the same counts Monday.

The two were among a raft of personalities on the radar of judicial officials vigorously moving ahead with probes of alleged corruption under Bouteflika. Protesters demonstrate nationwide each Friday to denounce corruption and force all linked to the Bouteflika era to leave office.