31st August, 2018
Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed sacked the country’s energy minister, Khaled Gadour, and four senior ministry officials on Friday over corruption allegations, an official source told Reuters.
Those dismissed included the secretary of state for energy, director general of fuel, head of the Petroleum Activities Company and director general of legal affairs at the ministry.
In November 2017, Gadour appeared before a judge on graft suspicions, a judicial source says, the latest high-ranking official to face allegations amid a crackdown in the North African state.
Gadour, whose portfolio covers the lucrative energy and mining sectors– was brought before an investigating judge , but the interrogation was postponed to Dec. 4 , 2017 after a request from his lawyer.
Gadour, a former oil executive who has only been in the job since September – is suspected of “administrative and financial corruption” inside his ministry.
The latest allegations come after the head of Tunisia’s government Chahed in May 2017 said he was launching a war on graft in the country.
Several senior officials and businessmen have been caught up in the anti-corruption drive and in August the government’s interim finance minister was forced out after it emerged he had a conviction for corruption.