Visa trafficking: Spanish consul’s secretary admits transferring 34,813 euros
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Echorouk
The secretary of Spain’s consul in Algiers admitted before Judge María Tardón of Spain’s National Court to transferring 34,813 euros to Algeria between early 2022 and March 2026 to convert them into dinars on the black market. According to the newspaper The Objective on 10 November, she carried less than 3,000 euros per trip, while the wife of a former consular official is said to hold six properties worth nearly 784,000 euros.
The secretary of Spain’s consul in Algiers has admitted before the Spanish courts to transferring 34,813 euros to Algeria, between early 2022 and March 2026, to convert them into dinars on the parallel market. The Spanish daily The Objective reports the admissions in an investigation published on Tuesday 10 November. They were made before Judge María Tardón of the National Court, who is investigating the Schengen visa trafficking case at the consulate.
According to the newspaper, the money reached her through transfers from third parties, was then withdrawn in cash from cash machines in Spain and carried to Algeria. The secretary travelled to Spain once or twice a month, with the help of her partner, and took care not to exceed 3,000 euros per trip to avoid suspicion. She then handed the dinar equivalent to the owners of the funds. Investigators also suspect cash entering Spain as part of the same operations.
Spain’s national police (UDEF, the economic and financial crimes unit) has also established that the wife of a former consular official owns at least six properties in Algiers, bought between 2016 and 2021. On Monday 9 November, The Objective put their value at around 120 million dinars, or 783,919 euros. She is the wife of Vicente Moreno, a former consular adviser, the consulate’s number two and head of the visa section.
These admissions add to the revelations about the six properties acquired in Algiers published on 9 November. The wife has since contested the Spanish accusations.
