TUNIS, Tunisia ? A year after Tunisia?s president fled a revolution fueled in part by his government?s corruption, huge amounts of the money controlled and invested by his family and allies remain out of the reach of the country?s people and new government.
Estimates of cash, equities and property belonging to Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and his allies range up to billions of dollars. Some of the money remains outside the country, locked in bank accounts or investments in 12 nations, including Britain, the United States and France, where they are being pursued by a top lawyer.
Assets inside the country are in the hands of the judiciary, the Ministry of State or the Finance Ministry, with a novice government uncertain what to do with them and worried that any dramatic changes could damage an already fragile economy.
Officials concede that so far not a penny of assets stashed abroad by Ben Ali or his entourage has reached public coffers, and not a single company in Tunisia has been sold off.
?There?s a process to help identify and recover the assets, and we have gone a long way in putting in place a process,? said Mustapha Kamal Nabli, governor of the central bank. ?But it takes a lot of time, much more time than what people would like to see.?
One of the causes of the revolution was the ?humiliation? people felt over the accumulation of wealth by some in the country because of their position, Nabli said. ?Correcting that, and showing that people cannot get away with that, is extremely important in terms of the moral dimension.?
Tunisians also worry that failing to fully address the corruption of the government and recover assets is a recipe for discontent.
?The consequence of corruption is poverty, is delinquency,? said Charafeddine Elkellil, a lawyer who is pursuing corrupt officials on a voluntary basis. ?The administration has collapsed because of corruption. It is the central crime, because you have a lot of crimes emerging from it.?
Tunisia?s experience offers lessons for other Middle Eastern and North African nations undergoing or facing transitions from autocracy to pluralism. Across the region, autocratic leaders, their families and acolytes formed corrupt elites and fueled perceptions of injustice and cronyism that sparked revolutionary movements.
Ben Ali and the family of his wife, Leila Trabelsi, used their connections to gain control of lucrative banks such as Zitouna, as well as car dealerships, media outlets and prime real estate. One of Ben Ali?s sons-in-law owned a majority stake in Orange, the local affiliate of France Telecom, while another had a stake in Carrefour supermarkets.
The assets of 110 members of Ben Ali?s entourage had already been seized and ?dozens? had been convicted, Nabli said. But in many cases, those who allegedly benefited from the corruption remain at large.
Ben Ali is contesting the seizure of his Tunisian property. On Friday, the eve of the revolution?s anniversary, his attorney, Akram Azoury, issued a statement condemning the ?illegal actions of the Tunisian authorities who have confiscated all the fixed and moveable assets of president Ben Ali.? He said that the former president would lodge a complaint against the Tunisian government with the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.
Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=1bed675d3483dc159abf31dc408a6e3b
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