Algerian imports: After false-declaration data emerges, Tebboune takes action

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has summoned Algeria’s prime minister and senior officials responsible for trade and finance after data revealed false declarations linked to import programs. The meeting followed figures released by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Export Promotion, which authorities said had direct implications for public funds.

The presidency said the meeting examined information submitted by the foreign trade department. The seriousness of the data prompted an immediate gathering of officials from the two sectors most directly exposed to import and export channels.

The presidency also said measures would be taken against those who produced the false declarations. It gave no timetable, but described the declarations as part of a carefully prepared scheme intended to drain the public treasury and weaken the foundations of the national economy.

That wording places the case beyond an ordinary commercial dispute. The authorities’ description points to organization, intent and a target: state finances. The affair emerged on September 3, when digital cross-checking of files belonging to 1,013 economic operators detected strictly identical documents and data in projected import programs for raw materials and equipment.

The ministry said an automated data-analysis and cross-checking system, integrated into a digital platform and supported by artificial intelligence, identified anomalies it called “suspicious and outside the norm.” The irregularities involved official documents that should have been individual to each company. In one finding, 278 operators submitted exactly the same employee declaration to CNAS, representing 27.4 percent of the flagged files. The available report also said 277 operators used the same affiliation certificate, but the supplied text ends before giving further details.