THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Tunisian officials announced an investigation into the vast fortune of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his relatives on Wednesday as Switzerland announced it had frozen the assets of the exiled dictator.Members of 'The Family' exerted total dominance of the Tunisian economy, owning banks, commercial enterprises, factories, tourist resorts and vast land holdings.
By conservative estimates Mr Ben Ali's immediate family had a £5 billion fortune, while brothers and sisters of his hated wife Leila Trabelsis accumulated even greater wealth.
The official TAP news agency said a judge had accepted a petition by prosecutors to investigate bank accounts, real estate and other assets.
The hasty departure of 30 or more Ben Ali and Trabelsis family members has brought the Tunisian economy to its knees – 43 banks, 66 shops and 11 industrial plants have been destroyed since Mr Ben Ali fled.
Demonstrators mobbing central Tunis have demanded swift action to seize Ben Ali assets inside the country and cash stashed abroad. Few believe the interim government led by Mr Ben Ali's former acolytes has the stomach for the task. >>> Damien McElroy, Tunis | Wednesday, January 19, 2011
