Tunisian Minister of Environment and Local Affairs, Mustafa Laroui, confirmed that the judiciary had opened an investigation over a shipment of toxic Italian waste which was brought into the country recently, stressing that it would be returned to the source country.
During a session at the Administrative Reform and Anti-Corruption Committee in the Tunisian Parliament, the minister indicated that "a third-rank judge undertook the Italian waste file, and he reached documents proving the existence of breaches that lead to criminal punishment."
He said: "Any breach got discovered, administrative measures will be taken against the perpetrator," describing the Italian waste file as an "environmental disaster on human health."
The minister added that his institution referred a file attached to a number of documents to the judiciary, while preparing an inspection mission to verify the existence of environmental violations, in addition to informing the Italian authority of the existence of illegal trade, and returning the containers of these wastes to Italy.
On Friday, the Tunisian Environment Ministry decided to open an administrative investigation after the arrival of about 280 waste containers from Italy, because they were not matching the type of waste approved for importing by a private local company for recycling.
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