Tunis (AFP)
The party of Nabil Karoui, one of the main headliners of the presidential election anticipated in Tunisia, on Saturday accused Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, also candidate, to be behind the arrest of this controversial media personality.
Karoui, who was charged on 8 July with his brother Ghazi for "money laundering", was arrested Friday when he was returning from Béjaïa (north-west), where he had just opened a new police station. his side.
"We are directly accusing Youssef Chahed and his gang of orchestrating this arrest," Iyadh Elloumi, a political bureau chief at Qalb Tounes ("The heart of the Tunisia ").
Denouncing "degrading and dictatorial practices," the official quipped, thanking Mr. Chahed "for this free advertising that only goes in the interest of Nabil Karoui".
After declaring himself a candidate, Youssef Chahed, 43, on Thursday delegated his powers as head of government to Minister of Public Service Kamel Morjane, a former figure of power under deposed President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali (1987-2011) .
Speaking at three weeks of the first round of the presidential election, this arrest raises the tension around this election particularly undecided, in the only country rescued from the Arab Spring of 2011.
Expected at the end of the year, this election was anticipated because of the death in late July President Beji Caid Essebsi, 92 years.
The final list of applications must be announced within a week. On Saturday, the electoral body (Isie) said that Nabil Karoui, mainly known as the boss of the channel Nessma TV, remained a candidate for the presidential election.
Even applications from convicted persons can be accepted in Tunisia, unless the judgments are accompanied by a specific prohibition, said the president of Isie, Nabil Baffoun on a private radio.
Mr. Karoui and his brother Ghazi are targeted by a judicial investigation of the financial pole since 2017, after the filing by the anti-corruption NGO I-Watch of a file accusing them of tax evasion.
The magistrate at the financial center decided in July "the freezing of their property and their financial funds" and they had been banned from leaving the territory.
© 2019 AFP