EXCLUSIVE: other three Tunisian deputies under investigation, shadows on a television channel
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Alaina
- . August 17, 2021
- . Update: August 17, 2021 2:28 am
Tunisia continues its fight against corruption and misconduct after the President of the Republic, Kais Saied, suspended parliamentary activities on 25 July, withdrawing immunity for his deputies. The suspension, scheduled until the end of this month and with the possibility of renewal, has allowed the judiciary to proceed against various suspects, often linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and the local Islamist party Ennahdha.
After the dozens of arrests in recent days, this morning, the prosecution in the court of the first instance in Ben Arous, in Tunis, authorized an investigation against three other deputies. We are talking about Mohamed Affes, Rached Khiari, and Ayatollah Hichri. The spokesperson for the Deputy Prosecutor at Ben Arous Court of First Instance, Omar Hansen, confirmed a few hours ago that this decision comes following a complaint filed by the Ministry of Education in 2020.
According to the first rumors, the prosecution had ordered an investigation last year into the matter that had not ended due to the parliamentary immunity enjoyed by the three members of the People’s Assembly, the Tunisian Parliament with headquarters in Bardo.
But that is not all. Other incidents of corruption are emerging from what The Arab Post has learned in the corridors of Tunisian courts. For example, the National Body for the Fight against Corruption (INLUCC) presented an investigation report on suspicions of corruption linked to a private television station to the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Tunis Court of First Instance. According to the agency’s weekly report, the owner of the unauthorized television channel continues to illegally broadcast its programming despite warnings from the High Commission for Audio-Visual Communication (HAICA).
At the moment, the investigators did not want to reveal the broadcaster’s name. Still, sources of INLUCC confessed to The Arab Post that the channel in question would have supported one of the candidates in the last legislative and presidential elections, indicating the involvement of a charity.
Faced with advancing justice, many choose to leave power, resigning. This morning, the delegate from Kasserine Nord, Issam Oueslati, known for his proximity to the Islamist party Ennahdha, renounced his position. But the region governor would have rejected the resignation, suggesting the delegate wait for justice to take its course.
