Illicit transfer of currency, illegal enrichment, luxury residence in France and big boss of the police in Algeria, part of the escapades of the Algerian Farid Zineddine Bencheikh was revealed by the journalist, Abdou Semmar in exclusive documents which show the relations economic and political relations of the Algerian leaders with France where they have flourishing businesses.
Here is a case that presents itself as the tip of the iceberg, a real “mafia” of Algerian generals and senior officials in France that would explain a lot about the opaque relations between Paris and Algiers.
The case of Farid Zinedine Bencheikh, the current head of the Algerian police, raises the question of how an Algerian state official, paid in Algerian dinars, can become the owner of a hotel, bar and bistro in Paris .
Even being the boss of the Algerian police, his salary and bonuses can in no way allow him to become the owner of such establishments. Worse, Algerian law is strict in this area and prohibits the purchase of real estate, or commercial activities from Algerian funds.
Revealed by the Algerian investigative journalist, Abdou Semmar, a refugee in France and sentenced to death in his country, the case is based on material evidence. Supporting documents, proof of purchase of an establishment named l’Etoile, show that the Algerian police chief acquired the establishment in 2017.
That year, Bencheikh was however far from occupying his current position, since 2015 he had been the regional police inspector for the entire south-eastern region of the country in Ouargla, before being promoted in the summer of 2020 with eight other executives of the DGSN, at the grade of “general controllers”.
It was therefore only in March 2021 that he became Regional Police Inspector for the Center region before becoming head of the DGSN.
Since then, the head of the Algerian police has sought to cover the tracks on this affair in France by giving it to his brother so that his name does not appear on the papers.
The documents revealed by the Algerian journalist, whose accuracy has been certified by a Paris court, show that the boss of the Algerian police had a residence in France since 2015, in a luxurious apartment in the 12th arrondissement in Paris.
Thanks to this apartment where he established his residence with the French authorities on May 1, 2015, France granted him a 10-year residence card which runs until 2025. His brother, meanwhile, has a passport Algerian and a current Schengen visa from 2017 to 2020, and presents himself as living with his brother.
Yet at the same time that Farid Zineddine Bencheikh was supposed to be residing in France, he was also supposed to be assigned to Ouargla in Algeria.
An Algerian statesman, resident in France and owner of a hotel, bar and bistro in Paris, the case seems incongruous, especially since Farid Zineddine is not just any senior official in Algeria. He sits as a permanent member of the High Security Council, the most sensitive security body in the country, responsible for establishing national security defense strategies and studying the most delicate security or military issues, alongside the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and the Chief of Staff of the National and Popular Army (ANP), Said Chengriha.
This man so powerful and whose function is so sensitive in Algeria, linked to the security of the State, can in no case be resident in France. The underside of obtaining this 10-year residence permit for this Algerian official would amount to an intervention “from above”, according to the Algeria part news site.
The “conditions for obtaining this French residence are totally illegal and immoral from the point of view of French law. Only +an intervention from above+ at the level of the Ministry of the Interior in France, or even sponsorship by a powerful French security service, can allow an Algerian police official to obtain such a privileged status on the French territory”, indicates the site.
The same source specified that the accommodation of the head of the Algerian police is located “in the heart of a very chic residential area of the French capital and in a luxurious building with only two high-end apartments surrounded by several other premises for commercial “.
The Algerian media investigation revealed that Farid Zineddine Bencheikh and his brother Adel Bencheikh, were able to make “imprints” of 25 thousand euros in France to acquire 50% of a company operating the hotel bar-restaurant l’Etoile located at 45 Rue Victor Hugo in Malakoff, while the brother of the Algerian police boss only has a Schengen visa.
Finally, the other revelation of this case shows that this “mafia” enterprise of the head of the Algerian police is only a tiny part of what seems to be a network of obscure operations, embezzlement, and enrichment. illegal use of senior Algerian officials, since the previous owner of the Etoile establishment, bought by the Bencheikh brothers, is none other than a close friend of another Algerian official, the President of the Council of the Nation, Salah Goudjil, second figure of the Algerian state.