UAE asked to freeze Bin Ali cash

Tunisia has asked the UAE to freeze assets of its former president Zine Al Abidine Bin Ali and his family, a Tunisian government official said. "Talks were underway. The Tunisian judicial system requested to freeze his assets in several countries including the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, the US and Europe. This is a precautionary measure to stop any money transactions until the judicial system recovers the funds and returns them to Tunisia," Kamel Bin Hassine, Tunisian General-Counsul for Dubai and Northern Emirates, told Gulf News. Asked about the steps the UAE has taken in response to the request, he said: "These things in some countries happen in secrecy and are confidential." The UAE Central Bank did not respond to a Gulf News request for clarification by the time of going to press. Tunisia is taking international legal action to recover assets it considers stolen. "This money was taken out of Tunisia illegally, there are international processes and actions being taken not just in the UAE and the Gulf but globally," said Raouf Al May, President of the Tunisian Business Council. "There is no political pressure on the UAE, just communication between them." Bin Ali fled Tunisia on January 14 in the face of an uprising against corruption, poverty and political repression, prompting European Union countries to say they would freeze assets they had. Ahead of the G8 Summit this month, international anti-graft body Transparency International (TI) called on member countries to "implement and enforce laws criminalising foreign bribery and prohibiting off-book accounts," by January 2012— in support of the Arab revolutions against government corruption. It also asked G8 governments to oblige banks and other financial institutions to enhance due diligence on customers who are Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and oblige financial institutions to publicly report on their assets in or transactions with offshore financial centres. "World leaders need to support people who risked their lives on the streets to put an end to corruption and autocracy," it said on its website. from gulfnews.