Algerian justice has decided to temporarily imprison Kheireddine Zetchi, the former president of the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) and businessman, on charges of corruption and squandering of public funds. His incarceration is part of a vast investigation carried out at the beginning of July against several officials within the FAF, but appears to be of a political nature.
After the incarceration of the Franco-Algerian writer and man of letters, Boualem Sensal, upon his arrival on Algerian soil, for having made statements on the history of Algeria and Morocco, it is the turn of Kheireddine Zetchi to pay the price for the Algerian regime.
If the case has an “economic” appearance after the FAF’s accounts are negative, in reality, everything seems to indicate that Zetchi’s arrest is of a “political” nature, because of facts dating back to 2021.
Posted at the head of the FAF from 2017 to 2021, a period during which the Fennecs were crowned champions of the African Cup of Nations, organized in 2019 in Egypt, Kheireddine Zetchi appeared before the investigating judge of economic center with 14 other executives within the federal body, report Algerian media.
Zetchi was imprisoned and heavy charges weigh against him, included in law no. 06-01 relating to corruption and its fight. He is being prosecuted for “concluding contracts in violation of legal and organizational provisions with a view to granting undue privileges to others and benefiting from privileges when concluding contracts with the State or with a structure or company affiliated with it.
He is also being prosecuted for “squandering the public funds of the Algerian Football Federation and the Public Treasury”. In question, FAF accounts accumulating nearly 8 billion dinars (more than 55 million euros) in deficit.
This affair was revealed by the current president of the FAF, Walid Sadi, during his opening speech to the ordinary general assembly held at the end of May 2024, only a few months after his appointment. He spoke of “a catastrophic financial situation” in the federation’s accounts.
Despite the 14 accused in this case, it was only Zetchi who was imprisoned and not the other group of people, which included two other former FAF bosses, Charafeddine Amara and Djahid Zefizef.
Kheireddine Zetchi found himself under fire from criticism and in the sights of the Algerian authorities after his vote in favor of the new statutes of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
These statutes, adopted in 2021, stipulate that only national teams from African countries recognized by the United Nations can be members of CAF. This decision was seen as a disavowal of the political positions of Algeria, which supports the Polisario and seeks recognition of a “national team” representing the so-called “sadr” within international sporting bodies, in particular by taking advantage of the fact that the The separatist entity is a member of the African Union.
This vote by Zetchi not only aroused the anger of the Algerian authorities, but it also marked the beginning of his isolation on the national sporting scene. If he was not immediately imprisoned, without valid reasons, the investigation into the “squanderings” opened by the financial prosecutor seems to be a case cut out for him.
Accused of having acted against the country’s strategic interests, he became a prime target for critics of the regime, and he was immediately removed from the FAF despite the coronation of the “Greens”. This case therefore strangely resembles that of the writer Boualem Sansal, also imprisoned for having made statements contrary to political aspirations and the story told by the Algerian authorities on the history of Algeria.
