Bank accounts, properties and holdings owned by Tunisia's ousted leader and his family came under scrutiny Wednesday in Tunisia and Europe, intensifying what promises to be a long battle over assets that activists and Tunisians officials say the family illegally gained during the ex-president's 23-year rule.
Federal authorities in Switzerland announced Wednesday an immediate freeze of all Swiss assets belonging to Mr. Ben Ali, his wife and about 40 family members.
In France, anticorruption activists said they filed a complaint with Paris prosecutors Wednesday, urging judicial officials to freeze French assets of Mr. Ben Ali and about 12 family members—which they say includes bank accounts and real estate in Paris and the French Riviera—alleging misappropriation of Tunisian public funds and money laundering.
Mr. Ben Ali and an unknown number of his relatives fled Tunisia for Saudi Arabia on Friday. Their surprise exit followed a month of popular protests against the president that included allegations that their lavish lifestyle was funded by corruption.
The exact whereabouts of Mr. Ben Ali and his wife in Saudi Arabia weren't known. Mr. Ben Ali has made no public statements since fleeing to Saudi Arabia. It is unclear whether Mr. Ben Ali or other relatives have engaged legal representation. Calls to several Tunisian businesses owned by Mr. Ben Ali’s relatives went unanswered.
Tunisian state television reported Wednesday that authorities in Tunisia's new caretaker government have arrested 33 members of Mr. Ben Ali's extended family. It wasn't immediately clear who the individuals were, when they were arrested or why they were detained.
Members of Mr. Ben Ali's immediate family control stakes in at least three major banks and hold significant shares in at least two Tunisian cellphone companies and at least one airline, according to local lawyers, officials and others with knowledge of the businesses. Holding companies controlled by family members have partnerships with foreign firms operating in Tunisia, which include branches of European car makers and retailers, these people say.
Daniel Lebègue, head of the French arm of anticorruption group Transparency International, estimated Mr. Ben Ali and his clan controlled an estimated 35% of Tunisia's economy. Tunisia's gross domestic product reached an estimated $44 billion last year. Mr. Lebègue's estimate wasn't immediately verifiable.
The Tunisian actions represents the latest in a series of decrees by the North African country's new caretaker government aimed at meeting public demands for widespread political reform and justice. On Tuesday, Tunisia's former ruling party revoked the membership of Mr. Ben Ali, its founder. On Wednesday, the caretaker government started work, with multiple members taking oaths of office.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi announced commissions to investigate corruption and alleged illegal enrichment by Tunisians during Mr. Ben Ali's rule, a position that became clearer with Wednesday's government's announcement that authorities were looking into alleged transfers of assets and currency overseas.
"An investigation in illegal acquisition of personal property, real estate and stock-market investments abroad has been opened by the Public Prosecutor," the statement said, according to state news media.
Switzerland's immediate freeze covers assets that belong to Mr. Ben Ali and dozens of members of his extended family. The Swiss government said it doesn't have a precise picture of these assets but that its order binds bankers, traders or real-estate agents to take note when they come into contact with suspected Ben Ali assets. "We've ordered all financial intermediaries not to touch this money; they must also declare it," said Valentin Zellweger, a director at the Swiss Foreign Ministry.
Anti-corruption activists in France say their complaint with Paris prosecutors urges judicial authorities to freeze Ben Ali family assets in France. The complaint's aim is to return these assets to their owners—the Tunisian state, in most cases—said Mr. Lebègue of Transparency International, which filed the complaint.
An official at Paris prosecutor's office said she had not yet seen the complaint. The French government has said it was standing by to assist Tunisia in recovering any of Mr. Ben Ali's assets found in France and deemed fraudulent.
Much of the public outrage against the old regime focused on the president's wife and a son-in-law, Sakker el-Materi. Protesters last week hurled insults against Mrs. Ben Ali and over the weekend, people looted mansions that neighbors said belonged to Mr. El-Materi.
The Central Bank has placed under administrative control a bank owned by Mr. El-Materi, Bank Zitouna, according to the state news agency. Mr. El-Materi's whereabouts aren't known.
A 2009 U.S. diplomatic cable leaked by the website WikiLeaks included a diplomat's description of a home of Mr. El-Materi, which its author said was staffed by at least a dozen people—an expensive rarity, the cable noted—and was home to a caged tiger named Pasha that ate four chickens a day.
"The situation reminded the Ambassador of Uday Hussein's lion cage in Baghdad," the author wrote, referring to the late son of Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein.
"The opulence with which El Materi and [his wife] Nesrine live and their behavior make clear why they and other members of Ben Ali's family are disliked and even hated by some Tunisians," the author wrote. "The excesses of the Ben Ali family are growing."
Separately Wednesday, Moody's Investor Service Inc. downgraded Tunisia's sovereign rating by one notch, to Baa2 from Baa3, and changed the country's outlook to negative from stable, citing political instability.
By MARGARET COKER in Tunis and DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS in Paris
Write to Margaret Coker at margaret.coker@wsj.com and David Gauthier-Villars at David.Gauthier-Villars@wsj.com
Source: The Wall Street Journal
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