31 August 2018•Update: 31 August 2018
By Adil Essabiti
TUNIS
Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed on Friday dismissed Energy Minister Khaled Gadour and a handful of other senior ministry officials.
According to a cabinet statement, Secretary of State for Energy Hachem Hmidi was among the officials sacked by Chahed.
The prime minister also decreed that institutions affiliated with ministry would be transferred to the Ministry of Industry, while a “committee of experts” would be drawn up to restructure the Energy Ministry and review the country’s domestic energy sector.
According to the ministry statement, Chahed has also called for an investigation into the ministry.
Government spokesman Iyad al-Dahmani later attributed the raft of dismissals to the fact that Gadour had allowed a local investor -- who he did not name -- to explore a major oilfield without the necessary license.
