10 people from the United Tobacco Company were arrested after 3 months of investigation:
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The police services in Algiers were able to overthrow an organized criminal network involved in the squandering and embezzlement of public funds from a company specialized in tobacco trade and distribution, which caused losses approaching 1,000 billion centimes, according to a statement issued by the General Directorate of National Security on Wednesday.
During this operation, the Central Authority for Combating Organized Crime of National Security in Sahouda was able to arrest 10 members of the network who were active in the “United Tobacco Company” (UTC), after an investigation that lasted for three months, according to the same source.
The statement explained that investigators of the Central Task Force for Combating Economic and Financial Crimes for the same department “were able to uncover the criminal method followed, which is to market tobacco products in illegal ways by some employees of the United Tobacco Company by resorting to registering various products in the company’s information system without actually receiving them from the sales branches, and then marketing them outside the company through wholesalers.”
These practices resulted – according to the statement – “an unjustified deficit in the inventory of tobacco products of various brands during the inventory and audit process of the financial accounts for the year 2025. Its commercial value in the market amounted to about 500 billion centimes at selling prices including fees.”
The investigators continued their field investigations and their financial and accounting investigations, under the supervision of the competent prosecution, where “another financial loophole worth 500 billion cents related to unpaid debts by the company’s customers was revealed, which allowed the identification of responsibilities and the arrest of 10 people from the network.”
The list of those arrested included “former and current directors, officials, and employees of the company with various degrees of responsibility, in addition to other persons, companies, and a wholesaler of tobacco products.”
The operation also resulted in “the recovery and seizure of proceeds, property, and assets of significant financial value belonging to one of the main suspects, represented by two luxury villas, one in Algiers and the other in Spain, and 6 luxury apartments, including 5 inside the country and one in Spain, a plot of land in the state of Jijel with an area of 900 square meters, three luxury vehicles, a large motorcycle, four luxury watches, and a hunting rifle, as well as a sum of money in the national currency.”
After completing the preliminary investigation procedures, “the suspects were brought before the Public Prosecutor at the Economic and Financial Criminal Court in Sidi M’hamed (Algiers) for misdemeanors related to abuse of office, intentional squandering of public funds, granting unjustified privileges to others on the occasion of concluding contracts in violation of legislation and regulation, money laundering, and criminal proceeds within the framework of a criminal group, in addition to violations of legislation and regulation related to disbursement and the movement of capital to and from abroad,” according to the statement. For the same statement.
