The Last Major “Serious” Lie of Tebboune
In discussing what he considers the record of his first term, Abdelmadjid Tebboune stated that “Algeria managed to recover a hotel that was owned by a former businessman in Spain” (without mentioning his name). For many observers, the reference is to the El Palace Hotel in Barcelona, which Ali Haddad bought in 2012. How was this hotel recovered, and what was done with it? No one dares to ask the question. Just as no one dares to challenge this assertion. An assertion that, to say the least, is misleading.
The El Palace Hotel, formerly known as the Ritz, located in the center of Barcelona, was built in 1919 on the initiative of César Ritz. In 1975, during the democratic transition, it was acquired by the Catalan entrepreneur Joan Gaspart and integrated into the Husa Hotels chain. In 2011, Husa sold the hotel for 80 million euros to the Algerian businessman Ali Haddad, although it continued to manage the hotel through a lease via the Sarasate real estate agency. During his trial in 2019, Ali Haddad claimed that the hotel had cost him 54 million euros. According to the weekly magazine Jeune Afrique, he paid the bill “thanks to three loans from Spanish banks, as well as a 5 million euro advance from a generous friend who opened the doors of Iberian banks to him.” The pan-African weekly points out, “At the time, the magistrate did not deem it necessary to question him about the names of these banks or the identity of this friend, nor about the terms and conditions of the loans, or their repayment deadlines.”
While selling the establishment to the Algerian oligarch Ali Haddad, Husa maintained its management through a lease via the Sarasate real estate agency. In 2014, this management company declared bankruptcy, at which time Haddad assumed direct management of the hotel. Other sources indicate that the hotel was managed by Aginyo Inversiones y Gestiones Inmobiliarias S.L., registered on December 16, 2011, in the Barcelona commercial registry under code B65675571. “Six days later, Radia Bouziane, an Algerian national who became a naturalized Spaniard in 2019, was appointed as the legal representative of Aginyo Inversiones,” reports Jeune Afrique.
This Radia Bouziane, married to Allaoui, who is little known in media and business circles, is believed to be the true owner of the El Palace Hotel in Barcelona through her company Royal Blue Bird SL. Since 2014, there has been no apparent link between the El Palace Hotel in Barcelona and Ali Haddad, who is currently serving an 18-year sentence at the Tazoult prison in the Batna region.
Legally and officially, the hotel that Tebboune claims to have recovered is owned by Mrs. Radia Bouziane Allaoui. It is unthinkable that the Spanish would break their laws to please Algiers.
This story of the recovery of the El Palace Hotel is the latest serious lie from Tebboune, just like the 20 billion euros recovered before the amount rose to 30 billion. Concrete facts? Just empty talk!
