| Wife of Tunisian president fled country with 1.5 tonnes of gold | Send to a friend |
| Saturday, 22 January 2011 22:01 |
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Tunis. The wife of Tunisia's ousted president picked up some choice items before fleeing the country: 1.5 tonnes of gold bars worth $56 million (about Sh78.4 billion). Dubbed ‘the Imelda Marcos of the Arab world’ because of her lavish lifestyle and love of designer clothes, Leila Trabelsi is said to have demanded the gold from the central bank as President Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali’s regime collapsed. The chief of Tunisia’s central bank initially refused but Ben Ali, 74, personally intervened, and she flew out with the bullion as she joined him in exile in Saudi Arabia. The source of the claim, leading Tunisian economist Moncef Cheikhrouhou, said militia men had tried to take more gold. Appropriately, she made her escape aboard her nifty “shopping plane”. “Hang them all, but first bring back our gold,” was the street mob’s eloquent reaction as they ransacked her palatial villas. Leila Ben Ali's haul equates to roughly 2.6 cubic feet worth of gold bars. The value of the gold is enough to finance a number of ministries in poor economies like Tanzania and undertake several development projects like road construction and building of classrooms and health centres. The clan of the former first lady is widely despised as the ultimate symbol of corruption and excess. Known as the Tunisian Marie Antoinette, Trabelsi lived an opulent and corrupt lifestyle that helped spur popular outrage A former hairdresser, Mrs Ben Ali, 53, is known for her love of fast cars – the family had more than 50 – luxury homes and frequent shopping trips to Dubai, during which she is said to have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. She used to fly luxury foods, including ice cream from St Tropez, to her beachside mansion by private jet while her husband kept a pet tiger, which he fed prime cuts of beef. While many Tunisians faced unemployment, poor living conditions and oppression from Ben Ali’s brutal regime, his family – known as ‘The Mafia’ in the North African country’s capital Tunis – is said to have amassed a £3.5 billion fortune. Tunisia’s “Madame La Présidente” has been dubbed “the Imelda Marcos of the Arab world”. Were one to make the allusion in her company, she would doubtless be flattered. When Mrs Marcos fled to Hawaii from the Philippines in 1986, she memorably left in her wake 1,000 handbags, 508 gowns, 15 mink coats, lakes of perfume, and an infamous designer footwear collection numbering 3,000 pairs. Manila’s favourite foot fetishist is still going strong at 81. Indeed, in spring 2010, the “Iron Butterfly”, who returned to her homeland after the death of her husband, launched an unexpected bid for a congressional seat. The self-appointed “grandmother of the nation” has embraced environmentalism, declaring: “I fight for truth and beauty. My ambition now is to save Mother Earth for humanity.” Once one of the 10 richest women on earth, Mrs Marcos, who has never been jailed, has paid back very little looted dosh, although 901 civil and criminal cases have been filed against her. She regularly pleads poverty, yet appears permanently bejewelled and lives in an exotic Manila penthouse where oil paintings adorn the lavatories. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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