The Gold Bars And Funds Smuggling File for Appeal On November 10

The Algiers Court will open, on November 10, the “smuggling of gold and foreign currency abroad” file, in which 12 defendants are being prosecuted for forming a cross-border criminal group, including a member of the security forces working at Houari Boumediene International Airport. The defendants will appear before the tenth criminal chamber of the same judicial body, regarding serious facts related to smuggling, illegal importation of gold jewelry, money laundering using facilities granted by a professional activity within the framework of an organized criminal group, and misdemeanors of violating legislation and regulations related to exchange and the movement of capital to and from abroad, non-invoicing and abuse of influence, acts stipulated and punished by Article 530 paragraph 13 of the Indirect Tax Law, Articles 339 bis and 389 bis 2 of the Penal Code, Article 33 of the Commercial Practices Law, Article 1 paragraph 1, Article 1 bis of the law on suppressing violations of legislation and regulations related to exchange and movement of capital to and from abroad, Article 10 of the Anti-Smuggling Law, and Articles 32 and 33 of the Law on the Prevention and Combating of Corruption. The security and judicial investigations in the current file, as previously reported by “Echorouk”, resulted in shocking facts about the criminal method adopted by cross-border criminal groups to smuggle gold bars and funds abroad with prior planning, then transferring them to secret workshops to reshape them again in the state of Turkey under the “Italian Goldy” brand with premeditation, then re-entering them and directing them to jewelry stores, with the complicity of employees including security men at the airport and facilitating their passage through various checkpoints in exchange for benefits, gifts and financial sums reaching 400 million centimes, pending what the trial of the defendants will reveal in terms of secrets and mysteries of the operations of smuggling the yellow metal and funds. During the inventory and census process, 14 bars of the yellow metal “gold” were seized that did not contain any hallmark stamps or other stamps, rectangular in shape, of various sizes “small, medium and large”, with a total weight of 290 + 9.59 kg, i.e. “9590 grams”, and various financial sums in different foreign currencies were seized, estimated at more than 10 thousand euros and 3065 Turkish liras, 200 British pounds, 400 Egyptian pounds, 200 Saudi riyals, 700 UAE dirhams. The Misdemeanor Court of Dar El Beida had imposed the maximum penalties against the members of the network, reaching 10 years in prison and an effective fine estimated at 5 million Algerian dinars, where it convicted both the security man named “B. Sidi Ali” and the security agent “A. Hossam” practicing their work at the airport, along with the main defendant “B. Reda” to 10 years in prison and a fine of 5 million Algerian dinars. While the court punished the defendants “L. Samir”, “T. Malek” and “B. S. Omar” with 8 years in prison and 2 million DZD effective fine, the judicial rulings also included the defendants “B. Farid” and “B. S. Mohammed”, by convicting each of them to 5 years in prison and 1 million DZD effective fine, with a single defendant sentenced to two years in prison and 500 thousand DZD, concerning the person named “B. Slimane Othmane”, and the court pronounced the acquittal of the defendants named “B. Abdullah”, “A. Bilal” and “B. Cherif” of the charges against them.