Tunisia on 11 April received $28.8 million in the first such retrieval of what it calls looted assets held abroad by ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family.The state news agency TAP said a check in that amount had been handed to President MoncefMarzouki by Ali bin Fetais Al-Marri, appointed by the United Nations to head efforts to recover money from leaders overthrown in Arab uprisings.Marri, Qatar’s attorney-general, was named UN Special Advocate for Stolen Asset Recovery in September.
TAP said the money returned to Tunisia had been in a Lebanese bank account belonging to LailaTrabelsi, the wife of Ben Ali, who fled Tunisia with his family on 14 January, 2011 after popular protests ended his 23-year rule.Local media say billions of dollars acquired corruptly by Ben Ali and his entourage remain unaccounted for, but the exact amount is not known.