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Algeria steps up anti-corruption fight

Scandals surrounding Sonatrach and other public works projects have spurred Algeria to adopt a tougher stance on corruption. Experts wonder if the move goes far enough.
Algeria has a new plan to curb corruption. But public fatigue over corruption scandals involving state energy giant Sonatrach , the East-West Highway project and other public works makes the project's chances for success far from certain.

The Algerian cabinet agreed on Wednesday (August 25th) to create a new central office to investigate and detecting corruption-related offences. The Court of Accounts, presently empowered to tackle fraud and losses suffered by the Treasury, would also take on additional duties.

This is not the first time for Algeria to attempt such a measure. The National Office for the Monitoring and Prevention of Corruption (ONSPC) was created by way of a presidential decree in 1996. The president disbanded it four years later. Its annual reports were never published.

Since then, government officials have spoken about the subject without achieving anything concrete in this minefield. In 2006, a law was passed with a view to establishing a national body for the prevention of corruption, but this aim has not yet been achieved.

Indeed, Algerian Anti-Corruption Association President Djilali Hadjadj openly expressed his fear that the new office would meet the same fate as the one created in 2006.

According to Hadjadj, "President Bouteflika misled the public when he asked the government to speed up the creation of this body, because the powers to appoint the members of this body and the executive decree laying down its powers lie with the president, not the government."

The press was equally sceptical.

"Will the fate of this new body be any different from that of previous ones? Will it succeed where they failed - that is, in overcoming this scourge which is rotting the country's economy?" an Infosoir editorial asked on August 26th. "None of the bodies created over the last few years as part of the fight against corruption has had the desired effects," the paper added.

In the opinion of former Prime Minister Ahmed Benbitour, corruption is an integral part of the system itself. During a meeting of the Islah party on August 26th, Benbitour said that the income-based nature of the system leads inevitably to corruption.

"When oil can no longer play a role in maintaining the state, a risk that the state will fall into decline will emerge", he added. The country may go the way of Somalia, he said.

According to Global Financial Integrity, Algeria is ranked third worst in Africa in terms of illicit financial outflow. Only Nigeria and Egypt are worse.

"As long as these countries are losing massive amounts of money to illicit financial outflows, economic development and prosperity will remain elusive," the GFI report said.

By Nazim Fethi for Magharebia in Algiers

© Magharebia.com 2010