One of the wealthiest businessmen in Tunisia, Marouan Mabrouk, the son-in-law of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was ordered to be arrested on Tuesday by a public prosecutor on suspicion of embezzling money from state-run enterprises, a judicial source told Reuters.
Mabrouk is not facing any charges. It remained unclear from which companies Mabrouk is alleged to have stolen money and how much.
After the 2011 revolution overthrew the dictatorial regime of the prior president, the government seized the president’s family’s property and assumed possession of the companies.
According to Mohamed Zaitouna, a spokesman for the Tunis court, the public prosecutor for state problems filed the complaint against Mabrouk.
Mabrouk is part of an influential family with business holdings in commerce, finance, communications and car dealerships. Mabrouk also holds stakes in BIAT Bank, French telecom Orange, a biscuit manufacturer, and a significant grocery chain.
He is among the few relatives of Ben Ali who stayed in Tunisia after 2011. But Mabrouk has come under fire for allegedly receiving protection and assistance from succeeding administrations after 2011.
In an effort to lower Tunisia’s budget deficit, President Kais Saied, who overthrew the parliament and took over the government in 2021 in a move characterized by the opposition as a coup, established a committee last year to gather funds from company owners implicated in financial corruption charges.
The president had said that the state would not relinquish its debt to these business owners and that they would have to make payment.
$3.1567 Tunisian dinars equals $1.
Ref: Reuters
