Prosecutors in Algeria have sought prison terms of up to 12 years in an Algeria–Turkey currency transfer case involving a clothing importer and traders accused of renting out their commercial registrations. The defendants have disputed the allegations, according to TSA Algérie.
The case is before the economic and financial criminal court in Sidi M’hamed, Algiers. TSA reported that the principal defendant is an importer of clothing from Turkey, identified only by the initials B.A. No verdict or sentence was reported.
According to TSA, citing an Ennahar account of the proceedings, B.A. owns ten companies specializing in clothing imports from Turkey and lives there. The indictment alleges that he conducted illegal import operations, laundered money and transferred large sums of foreign currency to Turkey with the help of traders who rented out their commercial registrations.
The alleged arrangement paid the traders 10 million centimes for every one billion centimes in profit, according to the report. TSA did not state the total sum allegedly transferred.
Traders dispute link to importer
The reported charges include money laundering, breaches of foreign-exchange and cross-border capital-movement rules, forgery involving commercial and banking records, abuse of office, and granting undue advantages to third parties.
At the hearing, the traders denied the allegations and said they did not know B.A. They acknowledged renting out their commercial registrations but said they had not rented them to him, TSA reported.
The prosecutor requested prison terms of up to 12 years. A representative of the Treasury sought 300 million centimes in compensation from each defendant. Both figures are requests made in court, not penalties imposed by a judge.
Sami B. is the founder and editor of Algeria News Gate, an independent English-language platform covering Algeria’s political, economic, and business developments. Based in Europe, he reports on official announcements, economic trends, and international relations involving Algeria.