Algiers [Algeria], June 23: Algeria's former Prime Minister NoureddineBedoui and former Health Minister AbdelmalekBoudiaf have been sentenced to five years in prison and fined 1 million Algerian dinars ($7,383), according to the state press agency.
The pair were sentenced on Wednesday by the Economic and Financial Penal Court in the municipality of SidiM'hamed in a corruption case.
The two were involved in a number of irregularities found in the construction of a new international airport in the state of Constantine, the press agency said. The cost of the project skyrocketed to nearly seven times the original estimate, and its construction also took 10 years more than the projected four, costing the public treasury huge sums of money, according to news outlet Al Mayadeen.
In the same case, the court acquitted the former governor of the state of Constantine, TaherSakran, and the former secretary-general of the state, Ben Youssef Aziz, of all charges against them, the press agency said.
Source: Qatar Tribune