Suspicions of mismanagement and corruption splashed the public company Ellouhoum, in charge of the red meats market in Tunisia. After a parliamentary visit having revealed serious dysfunctions, the Tunis prosecutor’s office ordered the opening of a judicial inquiry targeting several officials, including a former managing director.
The prosecution at the Tunis court of first instance ordered the opening of a judicial investigation around presumption of financial and administrative corruption in the public company Ellouhoum. This decision, confirmed Thursday, June 5 by the deputy Syrine Mrabet, follows a field visit made on May 29 by a parliamentary delegation as Eid Al-Iid approaches.
Composed of members of the Industry, Trade, Energy and Environment Commission as well as several elected officials from Tunis, this delegation went to the company’s headquarters before visiting its facilities.
During the working meeting, the company’s delegate manager has drawn up a concern for the situation: debts accumulated with the National Agricultural Bank since 2012, recurring financial losses linked to the import of sheep for Eid, lack of material resources, and aging infrastructure. He pleaded for state intervention in order to lighten the financial charges of the company, notably by suggesting the rehabilitation of slaughterhouses.
The deputies for their part recalled the devices already implemented, such as the customs exemptions provided for in the finance laws of 2024 and 2025, while calling for more structuring support to put Ellouhoum on foot.
But it is above all the visit of the installations which aroused strong concerns: stagnation of wastewater, dysfunction of the treatment plant, deficient waste management, insufficient exploitation of land … so many observations which have prompted elected officials to request an in -depth reform of the meat sector, deemed strategic.
In the process, justice has seized the case. The Public Prosecutor’s Office has managed the Directorate of Judicial Affairs of the National Guard to Ben Arous to open an investigation targeting several company officials. Among them, a former managing director. The new director, meanwhile, has only been in office for a few weeks.
