The Annaba Criminal Court has closed a financial corruption case dating back to 1996 by sentencing a 74-year-old man to four years in prison. The defendant had fled to France at the age of 44, assuming the charges would be dropped due to the statute of limitations. However, he was arrested immediately upon landing at Annaba's Rabah Bitat International Airport. The case originated from a complaint filed by an employee of a state-run travel agency, uncovering embezzlement of revenue from airline and maritime ticket sales, along with the forgery of commercial and banking documents. Although the defendant pleaded innocence, claiming he left solely for employment reasons, the court upheld the charges, noting that other accomplices involved in the same scheme had been convicted decades ago. The prosecution had requested a seven-year sentence before the final four-year verdict was issued.