Mke wa Rais atoroka na tani 1.5 za dhababu

Rais wa Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali akiwa na mkewe Leila

KUNA taarifa zinazodai kuwa, mke wa Rais wa Tunisia aliyeondolewa madarakani, Leila (53),a.k.a 'The Imelda Marcos of the Arab World' ametoroka nchini humo akiwa na tani 1.5 za dhababu zenye thamani ya Paundi milioni 35.

Inadaiwa kuwa First Lady huyo alizilazimisha mamlaka za nchi hiyo zimpe madini hayo baada ya utawala wa mumewe kuangushwa.

Awali, Mkuu wa Benki Kuu ya nchi hiyo alikataa lakini Rais Ben Ali (74) aliamuru mkewe apewe madini hayo, amri hiyo ikatekelezwa.

Leila na mumewe kwa sasa wapo Saudi Arabia.

Inadaiwa kuwa, Ben Ali alikuwa anatawala kimabavu, na kwamba familia yake inaitwa 'The Mafia'.

Inaidaiwa kuwa familia ya Ben Ali ilikithiri kwa matumizi mabaya ya fedha za umma, na kwamba imejilimbikizia UTAJIRI wa Paundi bilioni 3.5.

Sehemu kubwa ya utajiri huo upo nchini Ufaransa, na baadhi ya wanafamilia wa Ben Ali wapo huko.


Soma zaidi hapo chini

The wife of Tunisia’s ousted president fled the chaos-stricken country with one-and-a-half tons of gold worth more than £35million.

Dubbed ‘the Imelda Marcos of the Arab world’ because of her lavish lifestyle and love of designer clothes, Leila Trabelsi is said to have demanded the gold last week as President Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali’s regime collapsed.

The chief of Tunisia’s central bank initially refused but Ben Ali, 74, personally intervened, and she flew out with the bullion as she joined him in exile in Saudi Arabia.

The source of the claim, leading Tunisian economist Moncef Cheikhrouhou, said militia men had tried to take more gold.

The clan of the former first lady is widely despised as the ultimate ­symbol of corruption and excess.

A former hairdresser, Mrs Ben Ali, 53, is known for her love of fast cars – the family had more than 50 – luxury homes and frequent shopping trips to Dubai, during which she is said to have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds.

While many Tunisians faced unemployment, poor living conditions and oppression from Ben Ali’s brutal regime, his family – known as ‘The Mafia’ in the North African country’s capital Tunis – is said to have amassed a £3.5billion fortune.

Much of it is kept in France, where some members of the family were still holed up last night.

The former president’s pregnant 24-year-old daughter Nesrine and her playboy husband Sakhr were taking cover in a series of suites in Disneyland Paris, together with a huge retinue of servants and bodyguards.

Gold haul: Leila Ben Ali's haul equates to roughly 2.6 cubic feet worth of gold bars
Dubbed the Tunisian Marie Antoinette, she used to fly luxury foods, including ice cream from St Tropez, to her beachside mansion by private jet while her husband kept a pet tiger, which he fed prime cuts of beef.

Nesrine and her sister Cyrine are expected to be expelled soon from Paris, a French minister said yesterday as France, Tunisia’s former colonial rulers, considered freezing any assets linked to Ben Ali’s regime.

‘They (Mrs Ben Ali’s family) are thieves, tricksters and even killers,’ raged Tunis resident Mantasser Ben Mabrouk. ‘Their only goal was to make money in whatever way they could.’