Jail terms, fines in Algeria's Sonatrach graft case

A court in Algeria on Tuesday handed down prison terms and large fines in a corruption case involving state energy giant Sonatrach and German and Italian companies.

The court gave prison sentences ranging from 18 months suspended to six years in jail in the case involving 15 people and four companies, including Italy's Saipem and Germany's Funkwerk.

Seven people were acquitted.

The defendants faced a raft of charges, including embezzlement of public funds, money laundering, corruption and pocketing bribes in exchange for unlawfully awarded contracts to foreign firms.

Sonatrach is the largest oil and gas company in Algeria, an OPEC member which is the second-largest supplier of gas to Europe after Russia.

Former Sonatrach CEO Mohamed Meziane was given five years' probation and a fine of two million dinars (17,000 euros). The prosecution had sought a 15-year jail term and a three-million-dinar fine.

Meziane's lawyers refused to make any comment.

His sons Mohamed Reda Meziane and Bachir Fawzi Meziane were sentenced respectively to six years and five years in prison and fined two million dinars and one million dinars.

Former vice president Belkacem Boumediene, jailed six years ago, was sentenced to five years in prison. His lawyer said he would appeal.

Another Sonatrach vice president in jail for the past six years, Benamar Zenasni, was acquitted.

The former CEO of the public bank CPA, Meghaoui Hashemi, was given a five-year jail term for money laundering, while his son Yazid Meghaoui got six years.

Germany's Funkwerk Plettac was fined five million dinars and three other firms -- Contel Algerie SARL, the Algerian-German group Contel-Funkwerk and Italy's Saipem Contracting Algeria were each fined four million dinars.

Saipem Contracting Algerie said in a statement that it will "assess the reasons given by the court and will appeal... as it firmly believes no price inflation above market rates occurred."

Contel Funkwerk boss Mohamed Jaafar al-Reda Ismail was given a six-year prison term.

Funkwerk was also excluded from bidding for contracts in Algeria for five years.