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A Tunisian court on Tuesday sentenced the country’s wealthiest businessman, Marouan Mabrouk, son-in-law of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, to 20 years in prison for corruption, lawyers said.
Former Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, who led Tunisia from 2016 to 2020, was sentenced to six years in connection with the case.
Mabrouk, who has been held in prison since late 2023, is a prominent businessman with interests in banking, trade, telecommunications, car dealerships, and a major supermarket chain.
He also holds shares in BIAT Bank, French telecom operator Orange, and a local biscuit company. Unlike many of Ben Ali’s relatives, Mabrouk remained in Tunisia after the 2011 revolution.
The charges against Mabrouk included money laundering, embezzlement of funds from state companies, and receipt of illegal benefits during Chahed’s government.
Chahed was convicted for approving the lifting of freezes on Mabrouk’s European bank accounts. Six other former ministers received six-year prison sentences on similar charges.
The court rulings come amid ongoing efforts by President Kais Saied, who seized control of the government and dissolved parliament in 2021, to recover funds from officials and business leaders allegedly involved in financial corruption.
Saied’s committee, created in 2022, aims to collect at least $5 billion for the state, though no amounts have been publicly reported.
