Tunisia: Free Destourian Party sues Bouden and Mechichi for committing ‘violations’

The Tunisian Free Destourian Party announced on Friday that it filed a lawsuit against a number of officials, including current Prime Minister Najla Bouden and former Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, for committing “violations relating to the foreign funding of associations.”

The statement called on the Public Prosecution to: “Open investigations into the violations contained in the report (published on 9 February, 2021) by the Court of Auditors regarding the funding of associations.”

The statement explained that the lawsuit included: “Chedly Bouallegue, the former governor of Tunis, the former Secretary-General of the Government Walid Dhahbi, and Mounir Ksiksi and Rached Bettaieb, the former presidents of the National Counterterrorism Commission.”

The statement also named the International Union of Muslim Scholars, the Islamic Relief Worldwide branch and the Qatar Charity Association, among others.

The party called on the authorities to: “Hold accountable the state agencies that failed to besiege terrorist leaders, and allowed huge sums to be sent in favour of associations and organisations known to be linked to terrorism and money laundering.”

The Tunisian authorities have not yet issued comment on the party’s statement.

Last year, a Court of Auditors in Tunis report revealed existing violations regarding monitoring foreign funding for non-governmental associations, most notably the lack of coordination between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

The report indicated that 566 non-governmental organisations did not inform the government that they had received foreign funds.