Tunisia: Developments in the Lobbying contracts… and new evidence condemning Ennahdha
After 22 months of complaint from the Tunisian Democratic Current party, the issue of the “lobbying contracts” has undergone new developments, with more evidence proving the financial corruption of Ennahdha, a movement affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is classified as a terrorist organization in many countries.
According to the website of the Tunisian radio station Mosaique, the first investigating judge concluded last Friday the investigation within the Malian judicial sector in the case that started with a complaint from the Democratic Current Party in Tunisia on October 4, 2019, on a set of contracts that concern three political parties: “Heart of Tunisia” by its representative Nabil Karoui, Ennahdha, and Aish Tunis.
It pointed out that the three political parties concluded contracts with a group of American companies, of which there are three, to receive thousands of dollars in return for partisan propaganda, pointing out that contracts were concluded for the benefit of Ennahdha Party, and that the Muslim Brotherhood Movement concluded a new contract worth 30 thousand dollars after July 25, 2021.
Last Friday, the first investigating judge decided to refer Ennahdha, in the person of its legal representative, and all those who were proven to be involved in the conclusion of the consultation contract from the party leaders, to the Criminal Council of the Court of First Instance in Tunis, in order to obtain foreign funding for an electoral campaign and accept direct funding of unknown origin.
A statement issued by the Liaison Office of the Court of First Instance in Tunisia said that “the investigation case published in the Economic and Financial Judicial Sector, related to the financing of the 2019 legislative election campaign, known as the Lobbying case, was concluded on Friday, March 11, 2022.
On October 25, 2021, an investigating judge went to the headquarters of Ennahdha Movement in the capital and detained the movement’s electronic server in order to transfer its content and conduct the necessary technical tests, as part of the investigation into this case brought against it by former minister Mohamed Abbou, in which he accused Ennahdha of contracting an American propaganda company ahead of the 2019 elections.
Multi-million dollar contracts
Tunisian Radio revealed yesterday that the three political parties, led by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Ennahdha Movement, concluded pressure contracts with three American companies.
Among these contracts, Ennahdha signed a four-year contract with the American company BCW between September 2014 and August 2018, valued at $285,000, and a supplementary contract in the period immediately following the Tunisian presidential elections on July 19, 2019 until December 19, 2019.
Mounir Ben Saleh, Secretary General of the National Council for Human Rights in Tunisia, said in a telephone interview with the radio that the foreign funds received by Ennahdha, the heart of Tunisia, and Aish Tunis are multiple contracts from a foreign company that return once, 2, and 3, each contract with a million dollars or more, but the importance in the law is not in amounts, but in persistence and repetition.
