Algeria is trying to sell jailed tycoon Ali Haddad's Barcelona hotel but a mystery contract is blocking the deal

Algeria is attempting to sell a Barcelona hotel that belongs to jailed construction billionaire Ali Haddad, but a pre-existing contractual complication is blocking the transaction and raising fresh questions about the management of assets seized from one of the country's most prominent convicted businessmen.

CNN Portugal and MSN France reported this week that the Algerian state is struggling to execute the sale because of a contract tied to the property that has not been resolved. The nature of the contract was not specified in detail, but its existence is preventing a clean transfer of ownership and complicating what the Algerian government had reportedly expected to be a straightforward asset disposal.

Haddad, the founder and former chairman of ETRHB Group, Algeria's largest private infrastructure and construction company, was arrested in March 2019 at the Tunisian border as he attempted to flee. He was convicted of multiple charges of corruption and illicit asset enrichment in proceedings that were part of the sweeping anti-corruption campaign launched under former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's successor, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, following the Hirak protest movement that forced Bouteflika to resign.

His sentence, handed down in 2019 and revised across several subsequent hearings, covered corruption offences related to contracts his company received from the Algerian state during a decade when ETRHB expanded rapidly to become the dominant private player in road construction, industrial facilities and other infrastructure projects. He was also a former chairman of the Algerian Football Federation, a position he held during Algeria's 2019 Africa Cup of Nations victory, which the team claimed weeks after his arrest.

The Barcelona property is one of several foreign assets identified by Algerian authorities as part of the seizure of Haddad's holdings following his conviction. Algeria has been working to recover or liquidate assets held abroad by figures convicted under the post-Hirak corruption proceedings, though the process has encountered legal, diplomatic and practical obstacles in multiple jurisdictions.

The contract blocking the Barcelona hotel sale adds a new layer of complication to that process. Any contractual encumbrance on a seized property needs to be resolved before a free and unencumbered sale can proceed. That resolution may require litigation in Spain or negotiations with the counterparty to the contract, neither of which can be completed quickly.

Haddad remains in detention in Algeria. ETRHB's operations were significantly curtailed following his arrest and conviction, though the company continues to have a residual presence in the Algerian market. The disposal of his foreign assets has been a slow process, and the Barcelona hotel case suggests it has not yet been completed.