Ali Haddad built Algeria's biggest private construction empire, then lost it all at a border crossing
Billionaires Africa | 12.05.2026 22:04
The arrest happened in the early hours of March 31, 2019, at a crossing on the edge of Algeria and Tunisia. Ali Haddad, the founder of the country's largest private construction group and president of its most powerful employers' organization, was stopped trying to leave the country. He was carrying two valid passports and a mix of foreign currencies. Within hours, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the man whose orbit Haddad had built much of his fortune within, was gone too, forced out by the army after twenty years in power. It was one night. It ended everything.
