Tunisia: president tells World Bank that audit commission will search for funds

Tunisia’s President Kais Saied has told the World Bank that an audit commission will be established to search for funds which have been looted or are otherwise unaccounted for. He told the bank’s Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa, Ferid Belhaj, that the funds in question amount to “billions”.

Saied also stressed the need to adopt a clear financial policy and put an end to corruption. According to him, it is rampant in Tunisia.

“You are following up on the money that you are lending to Tunisia and all countries,” Saied told the bank official. “Where did these loans and grants go? It is necessary to work with experts from the World Bank and Tunisia, after purging the judiciary so that the funds that they have looted over the course of dozens of decades will return to Tunisia and the people, not to parties or entities that use it invisibly for purposes that are no longer hidden from the people.”

He thanked Belhaj for his visit during these “difficult” economic times. From 2010 onwards, said Saied, alliances were formed to allow people to stay in power in Tunisia. “And about a quarter of Tunisia’s budget went to waste abroad.”

Such people have not learnt from history, he concluded. “The looted funds must be transferred back to the poor and desperate people of Tunisia.”

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