The United States must quickly join Europe in the hunt for as much as five billion dollars stolen by Tunisia’s ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a senior US lawmaker has urged.
Representative Howard Berman, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, made the appeal in letters to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and Attorney General Eric Holder.
“I understand that the Tunisian government has asked the United States for help in locating and recovering these assets,” said Berman.
“Inasmuch as the United States plays a central role in managing the global banking system, our assistance is essential if the recovery effort is to be successful,” said the lawmaker.
Berman urged the three officials to “move immediately to direct that the United States join the European Union in aiding the Tunisian people and their new government in recovering these funds.” Berman noted that, on February 4, the European Union expanded an asset freeze that previously had targeted only Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi, adding 46 more people to the list, according to an EU official.
“While the European Union launched an asset freeze last Friday, I am concerned that the US government has not yet responded,” the lawmaker said in a statement.
“Time is of the essence to locate the funds before they disappear into the dark reaches of the illicit global money vaults,” said Berman.
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