A Tunisian Member of Parliament Yassine Ayari who was elected in the district of Tunisian who lives in northern France and has stated that he’s the subject of a suit against him for public defamation in France that was brought in the name of Panoro Energy Asa, a Norwegian exploration and exploration company. as well as production firm.
Mr. Ayari previously accused Panoro Energy of money laundering on the basis of an untrue document that was posted on his Facebook profile on March 19, 2019. Mr. Ayari claims that he is the subject of “an intimidation attempt”, however, he refuses to clarify why he had made public the false and unsubstantiated accusations against Panoro Energy.
The Tunisian MP was unhappy about being denied the work of parliamentary oversight and has criticized collusion between the oil industry as well as the French political classthat, claims to be eager to protect the interests of Tunisia. These baseless and unsubstantiated allegations have been denied as unfounded and insignificant by Panoro Energy and its chairman, Julien Balkany. The French businessman vehemently denied any political motivation behind the issue and said it is an “pure legal matter” .
In a statement, he emphasized the seriousness of “defamatory and slanderous remarks” made against Julien Balkany, Julien Balkany also said that he was urging “the French Justice to work in close collaboration with the Tunisian Justice in order to continue its investigations in a peaceful content “. According an insider at Panoro Energy, the Norwegian company is very understanding of the authority that the Tunisian Parliament in deciding to adopt laws, and to oversee the government’s actions.
It is important that Tunisian MPs can perform their duties of regulating and auditing public bodies but it is equally important that they adhere to the standards of exemplarity and are not able to, as Yassine Ayari, broadcast publicly indefatigable and slanderous statements in complete impunity, and without having to be held responsible. If Yassine Ayari doubts the validity of his questioning under the guise of his responsibility to monitor the work in the Tunisian government as a Member of Parliament but he refused to respond on the issues raised by the case which has now seen its indictment by an French prosecutor .
The charges relate in this regard to the dissemination by Ayari of a fake document, whose falsity that was already proven. Why is he not making apologies for spreading, without any evidence, and incorrectly through the media, in the media, defamatory and unsubstantiated allegations? His position as a parliamentarian is not a right to be over the law, but rather instead, it creates the obligation to be an example to others and adhere to the law.
The uncertainty surrounding Yassine Ayari’s claims in relation to Panoro Energy is in fact the third rebound in a matter that dates in the spring of in which Panoro Energy acquired two oil companies operating within Tunisia, DNO Tunisia AS and OMV Tunisia Upstream GmbH. This latest deal, made between the Norwegian company and the Austrian giant OMV for several million dollars, is expected to yield huge economic benefits on the local and regional levels.
There was, however, a real destabilization attempt, and was likely controlled by top officials of the Tunisian State and was suitable for a spy thriller which Panoro Energy had to face. Just a few weeks after that announcement it was reported that the Tunisian Ambassador to France, Abdelaziz Rassaa, delivered to the foreign ministry a letter of an NGO that was based within Paris, Veronga Watch, which claimed to provide details of the involvement of Panoro Energy in an “major money laundering operation”.
