Businessman Hassan Larbaoui has been detained in an anti-corruption investigation that was launched in Algeria.
Larbaoui is the director of a private company called Global Group, which runs a car assembly plant set up in joint venture with South Korea’s Kia Motors.
The court of first instance in Algiers ordered Larbaoui to be detained, along with the head of state bank Banque Nationale d’Algerie (BNA) and two industry ministry officials, state radio reported Friday.
Larbaoui’s legal representative was not immediately available for comment. The joint venture company could not be reached for comment. BNA declined to comment, Reuters reported.
On Thursday, the same court referred ex-Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia and two former industry ministers, Youcef Yousfi and Mahdjoub Bedda, to the public prosecutor to be investigated for alleged corruption related to the same case.
Ouyahia and other officials could not immediately be reached for comment, nor could their representatives.
According to Reuters, the supreme court also ordered the detention of Ouyahia and another former prime minister, Abdelmalek Sellal, last week for “dissipation of public funds and awarding illegal privileges” in a separate corruption case.
