The defence team had a solid and escalating belief that in the context of the search for the optimal sacrifice in the increasing campaign to combat corruption, which has not yet reached results of value, Mehdi Ben Gharbia (former president of a prestigious sports association and founding member) made this sacrifice. In 2011, an MP of Parliament in 2014 and 2019 and a Minister from 2016 to 2018, in parallel, a successful businessman, read a statement issued by Mr Gharbia defence team.
Defence team Says some parties seek to present their client as an optimal sacrifice
A range of circumstantial and joint evidence is available to indicate the setting up of Mahdi ben Gharbia, notwithstanding the means, procedures, and hocus-pocus employed by his followers and the alliances between latter, including, for example:
- The failure of the Al-Thawra News gang and those who associated with it to demonize, distorting, defaming and stigmatizing the client. One of its latest actions is to issue documents to the public related to client’s property that was illegally removed from the media system of the Ministry of Finance and in which a complaint has been lodged to the Ministry, It is worth notice that it is a gang of Perpetual impunity despite hundreds of criminal complaints originally filed with the Sousse Court, spanning over many years.
- The incomprehensible slowness of extortion proceeding, which is legally notarized with two registrations against the aforementioned gang, since it was lodged with the central teams of the National Guard in El Aouina to this day.
- On the other hand, the Public Prosecution Office of Sousse moved to avoid a civil and commercial lawsuit filed by one of the companies of the client Complex in 2017, a criminal case against the client, the Complex and the officials of his companies.
- Mehdi Ben Gharbia was convoked to attend the Aouina barracks on September 30, 2021, where he entered it at 10:00 aù and did not leave it with his attorneys until about 3:00 am tomorrow morning (continuous inquiries for about 15 hours, then consultation between the squad and the Public Prosecution in Sousse), and in parallel, many teams were harnessed, including the tax police, to raid the offices of the complex and bring some of its workers and even the guard to interrogate them in accusations of “billing fraud (submitted by the client’s Complex Company in the civil and commercial case filed), the client has never heard of the money laundering before summoning him and blockading him with detailed questions and including fixed dates that go back more than 5 years. Thye allowed them to leave the barracks in the absence of enough arguments to prove the two charges mentioned, in contradiction to the retention by the Public Prosecution.
- Finally and in particular, the corresponding search of El Aouina in date and hour with the contents of the current blogs posted on the account of one of the members of the corruption and extortion gang on September 30 against the client, who wrote consecutive posts of specific contents in conjunction with the questions that the clients faced at the moment of his interrogation. These posts were forensically reviewed. It is worth emphasizing in conclusion that the defence committee maintains other elements that it will unveil when needed, in addition to following up on the gang and those associated with it as well as investigating its connections and intersections with influential parties in the country.
From Defence committee member
Mr Ahmed Sawab
Source:press release
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