On Friday, Tunisian President Kais Saied issued an order to terminate the duties of Anwar Ben Hassan, the Secretary General of the National Anti-Corruption Authority, after security forces stormed its headquarters and closed it.

According to the decision, the person in charge of the administrative and financial affairs of the authority will undertake the temporary conduct of business.

Earlier on Friday, security units evacuated the authority’s headquarters, ordered all employees to leave and then surrounded the headquarters.

The “Arabi 21” correspondent reported that the governor of Tunis, Chadli Boualak, attended the eviction, while local media reported that the instructions to implement the operation were issued by the person in charge of running the Ministry of Interior, Reda Gharslawi.

So far, no official information was available about the reasons for the move and its background, despite repeated attempts to obtain clarifications.

The “I Watch” (monitoring) organization expressed its astonishment at the decision of the Ministry of Interior to “sudden closure” of the National Anti-Corruption Authority, without providing an explanation for the reasons for that.

The organization stressed, “the importance of protecting the files deposited with the authority… because they contain sensitive data and personal information (property and earnings declarations, complaints and reports of corruption).”

And it considered that “every attempt to touch these data is a crime punishable by law.”

It also stressed that all necessary precautions must be taken to protect the identity of whistleblowers who have deposited files with the authority’s interests.

It should be noted that the appointments in this body are related to the work of the government that is seized by the president of the republic, as the dismissed government of Hisham al-Mashishi had previously appointed, on July 6 last, that is, prior to Said’s coup, a new head of the body.

The Presidency of the Government said in a statement, at the time: “It was decided to appoint Imad bin Taleb Ali as head of the National Anti-Corruption Authority, to succeed Imad Bu Khurais, who will be called to other tasks.”

And “Bou Khurais” was appointed in August 2020 by a cabinet headed by former Prime Minister Elias Fakhfakh, immediately after the dismissal of the then head of the National Anti-Corruption Authority, Shawki Tabib, from his duties.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission was created in Tunisia on November 24, 2011, with constitutional powers.

Last July, Tunisia witnessed a coup against the constitution, which was carried out by President Kais Saied, who overthrew Prime Minister Hisham al-Mashishi, froze parliament, and invaded the judiciary, refusing to present a road map to get the country out of its crisis.