He finished second in the first round of the presidential election in Tunisia, even though he is in jail: According to his lawyers, Nabil Karoui has to stay in prison.
A new request for release from remand has failed, said one of the media entrepreneur defenders, Camel Ben Messoud, on Wednesday. The examining magistrate refused to take a decision because he was not competent. "We will appeal," the lawyer announced.
Karoui - who is also known as Tunisia Berlusconi because of the mingling of politics and media power - was drafted on Sunday in the runoff election for the presidency. He took in the first ballot just under 15.6 percent of the votes and ended up behind the law professor Kaïs Saïed (18.4 percent) in second place.
Karoui was put on remand in August just a few days before the election campaign on suspicion of money laundering and tax evasion. His lawyers had twice before unsuccessfully attempted to secure a release of their mandate before the first round of voting on Sunday.
Karoui has made popular with the voters with gifts for the poor in Tunisia. In a television station that belongs to him, the media mogul regularly presents itself as a benefactor. The ballot will be held parallel to the general election on 6 October or one week later.
