MASS CORRUPTION TRIAL OF ANGOLA ARMY OFFICERS STARTS

LUANDA - A mass corruption trial has begun in Angola with nearly 50 army and state security officers accused of numerous crimes including embezzlement and abuse of power.

Most of them were employed during the era of the former president José Eduardo dos Santos.

Prosecutors alleged that their offences cost the state more than $50 million. More than 200 witnesses have been lined up to testify.

One of the defence lawyers said he would seek to have the trial stopped due to procedural irregularities.

President João Lourenço came to power in 2017 promising to tackle rampant corruption that took root under his predecessor Dos Santos.

Meanwhile in Algiers, an Algerian appeals court on Tuesday upheld a 20-year prison sentence for corruption against Chakib Khelil, Energy minister for a decade under longtime President

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the APS news agency reported.

The court also fined him $13, 600) and upheld prison sentences of five and six years respectively against Mohamed Meziane, ex-head of state oil and gas giant Sonatrach, and his deputy Abdelhafidh Feghouli.

The Sonatrach officials were accused of prioritising Italian firm Saipem over an Emirati firm for a contract to construct the Arzew gas complex in the western region of

Oran - at Khelil's behest.

The officials were also charged with "granting undue privileges," abusing their positions and "concluding contracts in violation of laws and regulations," APS reported.

Two other Bouteflika-era ministers had jail terms on corruption allegations upheld on appeal on Tuesday: Djamel Ould Abbes for six years and Said Berkat for four, the news agency said. –