Tunisian justice has condemned two members of the clan of former president Ben Ali, Imed and Belhassen Trabelsi, to three years in prison in a financial corruption case linked to a loan granted by a public bank.
The criminal chamber specializing in financial corruption affairs at the Tunis court of first instance rendered its verdict: three years in prison for Imed and Belhassen Trabelsi. The sentence was accompanied by an immediate execution mandate against Belhassen Trabelsi, still on the run to date.
The two men were prosecuted for financial crimes in connection with the irregular obtaining of a loan from a Tunisian public bank. The file had been transmitted by the specialized accusation chamber of the Tunis Court of Appeal, which had ordered the dismissal of Imed Trabelsi in a state of freedom and his Belhassen cousin in a state of flight before the court of judgment.
As for former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, also targeted in this case, the prosecution was classified because of his death.
Imed Trabelsi, nephew of the ex-first lady Leila ben Ali, has received multiple imprisonment penalties over the years for drug use, for drug detention, for attempted flight and illegal currency detention, for emission of unknown checks, for corruption and abuse of functions, in the Concerts of Mariah Carey, for illegal allocation of land Carthage, in several files of embezzlement of public funds and financial abuses …
On the legal level, these judgments piled up: several cumulative penalties, potentially totaling more than 60 years’ imprisonment.
As for Belhassen Trabelsi, he totaled more than 150 years in prison for various financial crimes, in particular corruption, money laundering and diversion, although pronounced mainly in absentia. He is currently fugitive, sought after by Tunisian justice, in particular via Interpol. It remains free outside of Tunisian territory, blocked by refusal of extradition, and is among the large fugitives sought for financial embezzlement.
