Tunisian justice minister authorises investigation into Panama Papers where appropriate

The Tunisian Ministry of Justice announced on Tuesday that Justice Minister Omar Mansour has authorised the solicitor-general of Tunisia’s Court of Appeal to monitor the Panama Paper leaks carefully and conduct the necessary investigations where appropriate.

Inkyfada site, which participated in the investigation of the leaks, revealed that Mohsen Marzouk, a prominent Tunisian politician and co-founder of Nidaa Tounes party, had contacted the Mossack Fonseca law firm asking them to help set up an offshore company to transfer funds and investments abroad.

According to the site, former President Moncef Marzouki was also involved in smuggling funds.

Marzouki rejected the accusations on his official Facebook page, saying: “The operating room wants to divert attention and involve me in the Panama Papers. This is a blatant lie to be added to the long list of lies that were fabricated against me and the judiciary will say its word.”

Marzouki called for the immediate investigation into those involved in the scandal.

Inkayfada announced earlier via its Twitter account that their site was hacked and that hackers were able to add false information to its content.

The Panama Papers is an unprecedented leak of 11.5m files from the database of the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca.