The Tunisian businessman, the former minister, and currently suspended deputy, Mehdi Ben Gharbia, was placed in police custody on Sunday, October 17, by decision of the public prosecutor at the Tunis Court of First Instance, after his arrest on Saturday, and his transfer for questioning to the barracks of the General Directorate of the Tunisian National Guard in Aouina.
According to a statement from the public prosecutor at the Tunis Court of First Instance, Mehdi Ben Gharbia was kept under arrest and placed in police custody on suspicion of tax crimes and money laundering.
The Central Unit for the Fight against Economic and Financial Crimes, under the General Directorate of the National Guard of Aouina, was in charge of the investigation, according to the same source.
The lawyer of the suspended deputy, Mehdi Ben Gharbia, Ahmed Souab, had confirmed, on Saturday, in a statement granted to several Tunisian media (Shems FM, Diwan FM, Business news, Digital Tunisia, National Radio, etc …) that his client had was taken for questioning to the barracks of the Aouina National Guard.
The lawyer clarified that he had not been informed of the purpose of the interrogation.
He revealed, Sunday morning, in a new statement granted to several media, that the public prosecutor authorized the search of the home of his client, Mehdi Ben Gharbia.
As a reminder, the deputy Mehdi Ben Gharbia had denounced the presence described as “exaggerated” and “intimidating”, of the police around his home, in a post and in a video circulating since Saturday on Facebook and on other social networks.
Mehdi Ben Gharbia recalled in this video that he had never refused to appear before Tunisian justice.
He defended himself against the “demonization campaigns” carried out against him on social networks, in particular by the “Thawra News” site which would have had access, according to him, to “confidential” data relating to the surveys. , and that he would have presented, himself, and willingly to the authorities.
