Three employees of the Algerian billionaire Abdelmoumene Khalifa have been arrested here trying to board a Paris-bound jet with suitcases stuffed with millions of euros, sources said on Thursday.
The three employees of the Khalifa Group — a massive enterprise with pharmaceutical, aviation, banking and audiovisual concerns — were in disobeyance of an Algerian law controlling currency exchange and movements. They were detained while headed toward Khalifa’s private jet at the Algiers airport late on Monday in possession of suitcases stuffed with roughly two-million-euros ($2,2-million) in undeclared bills.
The sources said the money had been changed over several days last week on the unofficial market, where exchange rates are significantly higher than through official channels. Another multi-million-euro stack of cash was found at the home
of another Khalifa colleague, they said. The three men, including a close associate of the businessman, were reportedly detained by order of the public prosecutor’s
office, without any immediate charges levelled. No official confirmation of the arrests was made on Thursday.
The Khalifa Group has developed rapidly since 1999, and currently employs more than 10 000 people. Its 38-year-old leader and namesake built his fortune by seizing hold of Algeria’s rapid liberalisation process, after the state sacked its socialist structure in 1994.
Pharmacist by training, the son of a hero of Algeria’s war for independence and former minister, Khalifa began his first business producing generic medicine in 1992.
He moved into the banking industry in 1997. Khalifa Airways, launched in 1999, now has a 30-plane fleet, including new long-range Airbus A340-500 aircraft. – Sapa-AFP