Tunisia Orders Freeze Bank Accounts of Ennahda Leader and Former Prime Minister Hamadi Yebali

July 6. (EUROPA PRESS) –

A Tunisian court has ordered the freezing of the bank accounts of ten people, including the leader of the Islamist Ennahda party, Rachid Ghanuchi, and former Prime Minister Hamadi Yebali.

According to information collected by the Tunisian radio station Mosaique FM, the order has been issued in connection with an investigation for alleged corruption around the Nama Tunes charity.

Among those affected are Ghanuchi, who was president of the Parliament recently dissolved by the country’s president, Kais Saied, as well as several relatives of the leader of Ennahda and Yebali. The former prime minister was released at the end of June after several days in detention for alleged money laundering.

The Tunisian Prosecutor’s Office announced on June 27 the opening of an investigation after the investigations of the anti-terrorist brigade in relation to the aforementioned organization for alleged money laundering and financing of terrorist groups.

Likewise, sources cited by Mosaique FM have highlighted that Ghanuchi has been summoned to testify as a defendant on July 19, while Ennahda has denied any involvement of its leader in a corruption case linked to Nama Tunes.

Ennahda has stated that the authorities seek to denigrate Ghanuchi a few weeks before the referendum on the draft Constitution defended by Saied, which has been the subject of much criticism from the opposition in recent months.

In this sense, he stressed that Ghanuchi has already declared his assets and that all his banking transactions are legal, before stressing that he does not have financial ties with any of the suspects.

Finally, he has denounced an “instrumentalization” of the judicial apparatus by the authorities, amid increased criticism against Saied for his alleged attempts to influence the justice system of the African country.

The Tunisian president arrogated all powers to himself in July 2021 after dissolving the government and suspending Parliament –later dissolved–, which has led the opposition to denounce a totalitarian drift.