Tunisia watchdog: Ministers not disclosing assets

The chief of Tunisian transparency watchdog I WATCH, Mouheb Garoui, said yesterday that, after the 2011 revolution, prime ministers as well as a number of ministers whom he did not name have not disclosed what assets they control.

During a technical workshop held on Monday in the capital Tunis about a draft law on reporting corruption and protecting whistle-blowers, currently being discussed in parliament, Garoui asserted that only eighteen of the parliament’s 217 MPs had disclosed their assets. He pointed to the current lack of legislation that would force lawmakers to disclose their assets.

He claimed that Prime Minister Youssef Chahed had breached his promises, in reference to pledges he made upon assuming office last August about fighting corruption as a priority for the government. Chahed had also pledged that a bill on illegal wealth would be introduced at the end of the same month he took office, but this has not materialised to date.

I WATCH, an independent watchdog, aims to combat financial and administrative corruption and strengthen transparency in the beleaguered democracy. It is also an official partner to global transparency watchdog Transparency International.

On his part, the head of the Tunisian National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), Chawki El-Tabib, told reporters on the sidelines of the workshop that the government is seeking to implement a law that encourages the reporting of corruption and protects informants, witnesses, experts and their families.

The Commission was established in November 2011 as a successor to the “Truth Commission on Corruption and Bribery”, which was formed immediately following the Tunisian revolution in 2011. The revolution overthrew then-president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, widely acknowledged as being corrupt.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Parliamentary Rights and Freedoms Committee, Emad El-Khamiri, said during the same workshop that the committee had made progress in discussing anto-graft laws, and made many important amendments especially in the procedures and mechanisms of reporting.

When it comes into effect, the law will allow Tunisian state and society to resist corruption, which requires a political will, an independent judiciary and the right legislation to “combat this dangerous phenomenon that threatens peace and stability”, El-Khamiri added.

Tunisia ranks eighth in the African continent’s corruption index, and 76th on Transparency International’s 2015’s Corruption Perceptions Index, issued in early 2016.