Algeria's prosecutors demand 16 more years in prison for jailed auto mogul Mahieddine Tahkout over Swiss fortune

Algeria's public prosecutor has requested a fresh 16-year prison sentence for jailed automobile mogul Mahieddine Tahkout at the specialised financial crimes tribunal of Sidi M'hamed in Algiers, in a new case centred on allegations that he concealed €1.17 billion across Swiss bank accounts and French real estate while already serving a previous conviction.

The requisition, confirmed by RFI, AllAfrica and Algerie360 on May 28, demands 16 years of imprisonment, a fine of 8 million Algerian dinars, and the confiscation of all of Tahkout's assets. The tribunal has not yet delivered its verdict. The date for deliberation was not immediately confirmed in the published reports.

The new case is separate from and runs in parallel with the convictions Tahkout has already received. In July 2020, the same Sidi M'hamed tribunal sentenced him to 16 years in prison and a fine of 8 million dinars for corruption and illegally obtaining state advantages during the presidency of Abdelaziz Bouteflika. That case centred on how he used political connections to obtain lucrative public transport contracts and a vehicle assembly licence for his Cima Motors group, which distributed Hyundai, Opel, Chevrolet, Suzuki, Fiat, Jeep and Alfa Romeo vehicles across Algeria. He received additional sentences in subsequent proceedings. He is currently detained at the high-security El Meniaa prison in southern Algeria.

The new case goes further geographically and financially than the earlier convictions. Algerian anti-corruption prosecutors, working through international cooperation channels with Swiss and French authorities, allege that Tahkout used over-invoicing on import and export transactions to transfer several hundred million euros out of Algeria and into a Swiss bank account between 2016 and 2018. The total amount allegedly credited to that Swiss account is 1.17 billion euros, a figure that AllAfrica's French-language service described as placing Tahkout among the largest tax evaders in Algerian history if proven.

At the hearing before the tribunal, Tahkout denied all money laundering charges and rejected allegations of illegal foreign currency transfers. He acknowledged the existence of a single active account abroad, maintaining that the funds in question originated from a legitimate commercial debt rather than misappropriated money. His lawyer presented arguments challenging the basis of the prosecution's evidence.

The prosecution also targeted real estate assets in France during the hearing, with investigators presenting findings from Algerian financial intelligence cooperation with French authorities about properties held under structures connected to Tahkout's network.

Tahkout's trajectory mirrors a pattern seen across several major Bouteflika-era business figures who built fortunes through access to state contracts, concessions and import licences during the 20-year presidency, which collapsed in April 2019 under the pressure of the Hirak popular uprising and subsequent military intervention. Prosecutors have since pursued a sustained campaign against figures from that era, including two former prime ministers, Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal, both sentenced to lengthy prison terms in proceedings connected to the same Bouteflika-era corruption ecosystem.

Tahkout started as a small trader before building a bus fleet that operated university and urban transport routes across Algeria under government contracts. His transition into automobile distribution came through Cima Motors, and his transition into vehicle assembly came in 2015 when his group acquired the Hyundai assembly licence previously held by Issad Rebrab's Cevital group. At his commercial peak, his group employed tens of thousands of workers directly and indirectly across transport, automobile retail, agriculture and other sectors.

The prosecution's request for 16 additional years, if upheld by the tribunal, would compound a sentence that already extends well beyond what Tahkout could realistically serve in its entirety given his age. The financial dimensions of the new case, including the Swiss account and the French property, represent the cross-border phase of Algeria's effort to document and recover the wealth accumulated during the Bouteflika era that was moved beyond the country's borders before his arrest in 2019. The verdict from the Sidi M'hamed tribunal is expected in the coming weeks.