TUNIS, April 4, 2011 (TAP) - The Tunis Stock Exchange (TSE) denied, on Monday, having suspended listing of companies that belonged to the ousted president and his family, contrarily to information circulated by some Tunisian and foreign media.
Mr. Raouf Boudabbous, TSE communications officer, told TAP that it rather is "a freezing, under legal decisions, of contributions of family members of the unseated president and their associates to the capital of companies listed at the stock market, without however blocking these enterprises' stock market transactions."
The list of companies includes, essentially, Ennakl Automobile, Carthage Cement, Assurances Salim, Banque de Tunisie and Monoprix.
It also comprises Investec Company which belongs to the deposed president's son-in-law and is stakeholder in the capital of mobile telephone services Orange-Tunisia Company.
The Financial Market Council (CMF) had released, late February 2011, a list of 123 companies quoted at TSE which are suspected of being involved in transactions for the benefit of the ousted president and his family.
The list includes Tunisian and foreign private firms, investment funds and physical persons that have made prior to January 14, 2011 interventions at TSE to sell or buy shares for the benefit of unseated president Ben Ali, members of his family and their associates.
CMF Chairman Ferid Kobbi specified, in a statement to TAP, that it is "a freezing of the companies' listing at the stock market, under order from the senior investigating judge ... as a preventive measure, until the end of investigations and confirmation of their involvement or their innocence."
The Chairman of CMF refused to announce the list, arguing that it is "secret" and that the process consists in "not allowing these companies to invest or withdraw money from their operation accounts."
"Shuaa Capital," a Dubai-based investment bank which is on the list, denied, on an Arab TV channel, links with the families of the unseated president, while authorised sources in Tunisia underlined that this bank was on the list as a precautionary measure till the end of the investigation on this issue.
"The decision of the investigating magistrate, who has all prerogatives on the freezing of Ben Ali and his family's assets, to determine the list as part of a precautionary step, is likely to put a stop to any attempt by these persons to run their money," said Mr. Bahri Bahrini, a lawyer.
Mr. Bahrini reminded, in this regard, of the decree dated March 14, 2011 under which the movable and real estate property acquired after November 7, 1987 by the ousted president and his wife will be restituted to the Tunisian state, in addition to those of 112 persons having links with deposed president Ben Ali and Leila Trabelsi.
© Agence Tunis Afrique Presse 2011
