Behind them all was presidential brother Saïd Bouteflika also in prison...
Previously untouchable elements of the regime are panicking as political and business networks constructed by presidential brother Saïd Bouteflika unravel...
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Sources say he still influences policy supported by younger brother Saïd Bouteflika who has run the presidential office while also protecting the family's business interests – supported by recently re-elected president of the employers' organisation (Forum des Chefs d'Entreprise) Ali Haddad – and cultivating a network of political and security allies...
Bouteflika's shadow still looms large with policy decrees appointments and political manoeuvring emerging in his name from his medicalised suite in the Zeralda presidential palace courtesy of presidential brother Saïd Bouteflika and a phalanx of loyalists led by Vice-Minister of Defence and Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaïd Salah and Security Services Coordinator Major General Athmane 'Bachir' Tartag...
Construction magnate Ali Haddad a business friend of Saïd Bouteflika's is likely to remain head of the flagship of Algerian crony capitalism the Forum des Chefs d'Entreprise (FCE) despite claims this summer that even his head might roll as the El Bouchi cocaine smuggling scandal highlighted wider abuses of governance (AC Vol 59 No 14 Dead in the water)...
Sources close to the presidency told Africa Confidential that Saïd Bouteflika may have serious health problems of his own...
One wilder version suggests Bouteflika's supposed death has been kept a secret by widely-distrusted presidential brother Saïd Bouteflika and a small coterie of close allies who are working out how the Bouteflika clan can avoid losing power to rival factions before revealing it...
Sources in Algiers say all this followed a period of increased speculation about the president's health and Saïd Bouteflika's manoeuvrings...