Tunisian President Calls for Restituting Ben Ali’s Fund

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki on Monday urged Switzerland to accelerate the restitution of frozen assets belonging to ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to his country. “We want this money returned as soon as possible,” Marzouki told Swiss television RTS.

“If it’s returned in 50 years’ time like with money of the Jews, that’s pointless,” he said, referring to Jewish assets deposited in Swiss banks during World War II which were only returned to Holocaust survivors or their descendants five decades later.

He underlined that his country is in pressing needs of the funds. “We have 800,000 unemployed people. The regions are about to explode because people cannot stand anymore misery,” he said.

On January 19, 2011, Switzerland froze assets belonging to the Ben Ali regime amid the authorities’ repression of peaceful demonstrations.
Bern said in October that some 60 million francs (48.7 million euros) worth of Tunisian assets had been blocked.

Marzouki will be in Geneva to attend the International Labor Organization’s annual meeting which opens Wednesday.