More Desperate Dictator Housewives - Episode 4 - Did Leila take the gold?

Suha Arafat must be loving this! As Tunisia descends into chaos, so too do the wild rumours and gossip about the Ben Alis. Zine Ben Ali, former Tunisian dictator took off with wife Leila and 'family' to exile in Saudi Arabia (hey, well Uganda's Idi Amin eventually sought refuge there.... after Libya kicked him out). But just in case you haven't heard, the Paris daily Le Monde had a story the other day claiming that Leila Ben Ali had personally turned up to Tunisia's central bank to pick up 1.5 tonnes of gold just prior to them leaving the country. According to French security sources, Leila's trip to the bank happened in December, when unrest against her husband's rule started in Tunisia. The bank's governor apparently refused her demand and asked for a written request for the gold, said to be worth 45 million euros. The president initially refused to make such an order before giving in to his wife. Leila then left Tunisia before returning to the country, and that the gold bars were reportedly taken to Switzerland.

OK, so did this really happen? Well, doubts crossed my mind when I heard variations of this story, whereby Leila turned up to the bank one day, told to get lost, she went running to hubby crying, she must have threatened that she won't dye his hair jet black anymore because he then gave the order for the gold to be handed over, and furnished with writ, she turned up at the bank again and personally took the gold.... right. Le Monde also reported that the gold did not go to Switzerland but was on the private jet with the Ben Alis on their way to Saudi Arabia via Dubai. The plane though was rumoured to be going to France first, but Sarkozy had a change of mind and forced the plane to land in Sardinia (directly north of Tunisia) where it 'refuelled'. This gave time for the French to work out how to handle the Ben Alis, resulting in them being banned entry in France. Of course, Nesrine, Zine and Leila Ben Ali's daughter - the one who is married to that 28 year old guy who owns everything, and huge entourage were also at some plush hotel at Disneyland Paris just now. One report I saw has them already out of France and in Saudi Arabia... but other reports are saying that Nesrine and entourage are still there at the expensive Castle Rooms. Go figure!?

My issue with the gold story is that not even Leila and her superhuman belief in herself would be able to just carry 1.5 tonnes of gold away in her Prada handbag - that would take a lot of strength to achieve, and something that would not go unnoticed. So I am tending to believe the Tunisian Central Bank's denials of this gold incident ever happening. Besides, why would Leila want 45 million euros worth of gold now anyway. She and her family definitely have much more stolen wealth than that whittled away anyway for them to live quite comfortably and trashily happy ever after.

Nevertheless, what I, as well as millions of Tunisians, would like to see is corruption charges being laid on the Ben Alis. If Julian Assange can be placed on the Interpol most wanted list without even being charged with any crime and face judicial proceedings in such efficiency, then surely an arrest warrant and likewise swift procedures can also be applied in this case with the Ben Alis? I mean, what's the bigger crime here? Let's see what this world is really made of, especially in its priorities when it comes to crime.