Judiciary Pole: former minister referred to criminal chamber on suspicions of corruption [Upd 1]

The investigating judge at the Financial and Economic Judiciary Pole decided to refer former minister of state property and Land Affairs Hatem El Euchi to the Criminal Chamber on suspicions of corruption in the Tunis Sports City project file, Raqabah observatory said on Thursday. The observatory said it had been informed by the investigating judge of the closure of the investigation into the case brought against El Euchi in relation to suspicions of corruption and conflict of interest and the former official's appearance to face charges under Article 97ter of the Criminal Code. The observatory lodged a complaint with the public prosecutor's office at the Tunis First Instance Court on August 17, 2022, in connection to suspicions of corruption involving the former minister in the UAE Bukhater Group's Tunis Sports City project. El Euchi defended the Tunis Sports City company, a subsidiary of Bukhatir Group in Tunisia, in a dispute with Al Buhaira-Invest company - "a blatant conflict of interest as the defend ant- considering his duties as minister- obtained confidential data on the case file," the observatory said. Under Article 97ter of the Criminal Code, officials in the course of their official duties or during assignment to non-active service or on secondment are handed a sentence of two years in prison and a fine of TND 2,000 for exercising intentionally a paid private activity directly linked with their duties without prior authorisation. The capital share of the Tunisian State in Al Buhaira-Invest stands at 49.999% . TAP was not able to contact the spokesperson for the Judiciary Pole to obtain clarifications on the case. Objecting to giving details, the former minister told TAP he had not yet taken cognisance of the case file. Raqabah observatory is a Tunisian civil society organisation created in 2019 to fight corruption and foster transparency, accountability and citizen control of state agencies. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse