The European Union Council has lifted the freeze on the funds of three Tunisians, enabling them to recover their properties and bank accounts in European Union (EU) countries.
The three individuals are relatives of the late Tunisian President, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, paving the way for lifting the freeze on their property and funds in EU member states.
The Council decision entered into force on Jan. 30 and canceled the restrictions imposed on Feb. 5, 2011, at the proposal of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
The new decision includes Samira Trabelsi, sister of Leila Trabelsi, wife of the former president, and his two daughters, Cyrine and Dorsaf.
The EU decision would impact the efforts of Tunisia, under severe financial and economic conditions, to recover funds smuggled out of the country before Ben Ali stepped down.
Ben Ali, who rose to power in Tunisia in 1987, stepped down after a popular uprising in 2011, and left the country with his family.
During his term, Ben Ali's relatives and in-laws enjoyed widespread influence in the country, especially after his marriage to his second wife, Leila, in the early 1990s.
Since 2011, Tunisia has recovered about $30 million in smuggled funds from the accounts of Ben Ali's relatives.
President Kais Saied said in 2022 that the total smuggled funds amounted to approximately $5 billion.
Since the 2011 protests, Ben Ali's family members have dispersed worldwide and lived away from the spotlight with their accumulated wealth over the years. Some family members have died, while the judiciary is pursuing others.
The family had control over 21 percent of the country's economy, according to a World Bank report in 2014.
Leila Trabelsi, whom most Tunisians call "the barber," still lives outside the country with her only son, Mohamed, and daughter, Nisreen. She is being pursued in several cases.
Leila's two brothers, Imad and Belhassan, are also accused of amassing enormous wealth by seizing national property in Tunisia, which enabled the Trabelsi family to create an empire that acquires public real estate, communications and media companies, and car sales agencies.
Belhassan, 58, is the "godfather" of the family and the wealthiest businessman. He fled on a yacht to Italy and then moved to Canada. He lived in an apartment in Montreal until 2016 when the authorities refused to grant him asylum, and he later left the country.
