Brussels, 11/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - The EU has taken the initiative of a meeting on the return of the assets of the former Tunisian president, Ben Ali, who was ousted on 14 January 2011 and who has been in exile in Saudi Arabia, where he was granted refuge, ever since.
This meeting is to take place in Brussels on Monday 11 and Tuesday 12 June and will bring together representatives of the member states and international financial and anti-corruption organisations, as well as the European institutions.
Tunisia will be represented at the meeting by Mustapha Nabli, Governor of its central bank and president of the Tunisian committee for the recovery of dishonestly acquired goods deposited abroad. He will be accompanied by a delegation of lawyers and top justice officials. “We are in an emergency. The needs are massive. People are demanding work and we don't have the resources”, said President of the Tunisian Republic Moncef Marzouki, in a plea to Switzerland where the former president deposited assets estimated to be worth some €60 million. After rejecting the Tunisian demand, Switzerland would seem willing to seek a solution and its expertise in “finding the money stolen by the 'gangsters'” is called for by the Tunisians. Marzouki believes that the €60 million “represents only a small part of the goods and assets deposited by the former leader”. (FB/transl.rt)