The owner of the Tunisian private channel Nesma TV, Nabil Karoui, a leading presidential candidate in Tunisia, Nabil Karoui, co-owner of a private TV station, has been arrested and jailed in a case involving alleged tax evasion and money laundering AP Photo
The owner of the Tunisian private channel Nesma TV, Nabil Karoui, a leading presidential candidate in Tunisia, Nabil Karoui, co-owner of a private TV station, has been arrested and jailed in a case involving alleged tax evasion and money laundering AP Photo
The owner of the Tunisian private channel Nesma TV, Nabil Karoui, a leading presidential candidate in Tunisia, Nabil Karoui, co-owner of a private TV station, has been arrested and jailed in a case involving alleged tax evasion and money laundering AP Photo
The owner of the Tunisian private channel Nesma TV, Nabil Karoui, a leading presidential candidate in Tunisia, Nabil Karoui, co-owner of a private TV station, has been arrested and jailed in a case in

Tunisia: Presidential candidate Nabil Karoui arrested over tax evasion

The Heart of Tunisia Party has said the media mogul's arrest was politically motivated

Callum Paton

August 23, 2019

  • English
  • Arabic

Tunisian presidential candidate Nabil Karoui was arrested by police on Friday night on charges related to tax evasion.

La Presse de Tunisie reported Mr Karoui was arrested at a toll station on the Medjez El Bab highway with his brother Ghazi Karoui on suspicion of financial crimes.

The two men have been banned from leaving Tunisia and have had their assets frozen. The pair have reportedly been taken to Al Mornguiya prison.

The Tunisian presidential candidate’s Heart of Tunisia Party has said his arrest was politically motivated and an attempt to exclude him from upcoming September elections.

The media mogul’s own Nesma television station broadcast video footage showing the security services detaining Mr Karoui in his car. In July this year authorities barred the presidential hopeful from leaving the country while he was investigated for money laundering.

Osama Khelifi, one of Mr Karoui's political advisers, told Reuters he had been "kidnapped" to ease sitting prime minister Chahed Youssef's path to the presidency.

Samira Chaouachi, spokeswoman of Karoui's Heart of Tunisia Party, said it was "a political arrest aimed at keeping Karoui out of the presidential race".

However, authorities have said Mr Karoui’s arrest should have no bearing on his candidacy as he has not been found guilty and investigations are ongoing.

Mr Karoui and Mr Chahed are among 26 presidential candidates vying to lead Tunisia. The elections, which will be held on September 15, were triggered by the death of President Beji Caid Essebsi. The 92-year-old was Tunisia’s first democratically elected head of state following the country’s 2011 revolution which sparked uprisings across the region.

Former president Moncef Marzouki and Abd El Fatteh Mourou, vice president of the Ennahda party, are also running in the elections.

Earlier this year police raided the offices of Nesma TV over accusations the broadcaster had breached media laws. Mr Karoui’s company claimed the raid was also politically motivated because of Nesma’s critical line against the government.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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