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              'Ben 
              Ali's wife picked up 1.5 tonnes of gold before fleeing' 
            
            
            
            Monday January 17, 2011 09:19:55 PM, 
            DPA 
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              Paris: The wife of 
              ousted Tunisian president Zine el-Abidine ben Ali collected 1.5 
              tonnes of gold from the central bank before fleeing the country, 
              the French newspaper Le Monde reported Monday. 
               
              Leila Trabelsi visited the bank in Tunis and is thought to have 
              taken the gold bars worth some $60 million along when departing on 
              board a plane bound for Dubai, according to the report. 
               
              The head of the bank had reportedly not wanted to hand over the 
              gold at first, but after the 53-year-old contacted her husband 
              telephonically, she was given the gold bars. 
               
              The 74-year-old longtime president had initially also resisted 
              instructing the bank to do so, Le Monde said. 
               
              Ben Ali's second wife and her relatives have a reputation for 
              being money and power hungry. The Trabelsi clan is regarded as 
              corrupt and widely believed to be involved in racketeering. 
               
              After Ben Ali was ousted Friday, angry Tunisians looted the 
              couple's villa in a posh suburb of the capital Tunis. 
               
              Imed Trabelsi, a businessman and nephew of the president's wife 
              who for many was a symbol of corruption, was stabbed to death. 
              
                
              
                
              
                
              
                
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