Hamza Al Sid Cheikh, Scapegoat in the €2.4 Million Affair
The case of the €2.4 million seized at Paris CDG Airport has ultimately led to the downfall of one of the members of the campaign management team of Tebboune. Less than 24 hours after his appointment, he was dismissed for “serious misconduct.”
Hamza Al Sid Cheikh, 41, a former Minister Delegate for Saharan Environment (from January 2020 to February 2021) in the first government of Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s term, which was headed by Abdelaziz Djerrad. On Monday, August 19, he was appointed as the campaign manager for the “independent candidate Abdelmadjid Tebboune at the national level” (see document no. 1) by the campaign director, Brahim Merad, the Minister of the Interior on leave until the end of the campaign. Less than 24 hours later, just after the announcement of the Paris CDG Airport scandal, he was dismissed, in a terse statement (see document no. 2), for “serious misconduct (…) involving the use of his mandate outside the framework specifically assigned to him.” A vague accusation despite its seriousness. The use of the mandate outside the legal framework would be his direct involvement in the €2.4 million affair. According to consistent sources, he was the initiator of this affair, although it was approved by all members of Tebboune’s campaign management, headed by Brahim Merad.
“If the ‘serious misconduct’ was solely the fault of Hamza Al Sid Cheikh, he would have been pilloried and subjected to public scorn to present an image of a clean and upright Tebboune,” confides a close associate of the president-candidate’s entourage. This young man, a native of Metlili (wilaya of Ghardaïa), is an unknown figure in Algerian political and public opinion, despite a brief stint in the government. He had already participated in the 2019 campaign and was considered a key element in gaining Tebboune’s acceptance within the Mozabite community. This year, for the second term that the current occupant of the El-Mouradia Palace is seeking, he was thought of late, possibly considering a visit by Tebboune to Ghardaïa for the needs of the electoral campaign. Upon arriving at 61, boulevard Souidani Boudjemaa, the headquarters of Tebboune’s campaign management, Hamza found himself at the heart of the 2024 presidential scandal. A scandal quickly hushed up thanks to a controlled press, a non-existent political opposition, and limitless repression. Even in France, the scandal was classified as a minor news item. And no one cares anymore about what is happening in Algeria. It’s a bit of “silence, we cheat, we steal, and we vote.”
By Hichem ABOUD ✍🏼
