Chokey for liver donor error

A LEBANESE multimillionaire has been jailed for eight months after attempting to buy a liver. Hatem Akkouche, former mayor of Al Kharayeb, asked family living in Alicante to search for a compatible liver in 2013. The politician, 69, who suffered from liver disease, offered €40,000 to anyone who could help him overcome his ‘incurable’ disease.

An NGO worker alerted authorities after he found a 28-year-old Algerian woman living in Valencia who agreed to be a ‘living donor’. The man was detained upon his return to Valencia for a check up in 2014. He eventually had surgery using part of his son’s liver, legally and free of charge at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona.