The chamber responsible for sanctioning management offences

Under Article 8 of Organic Law No. 41 of 2019 of 30 April 2019 concerning the Court of Accounts, the Court has jurisdiction to sanction management offences under the conditions laid down in that Law.

The aforementioned Organic Law entrusted the sanctioning of management offences to a chamber of first instance with exclusive jurisdiction to hear the relevant cases.

These duties were previously assigned to the Court of Financial Discipline, a court established by Article 6 of Law No. 74 of 1985 of 20 July 1985 on defining management offences committed in relation to the State, public establishments of an administrative nature, local public authorities and public projects; determining the penalties applicable to them; and establishing the Court of Financial Discipline, as subsequently amended and supplemented.

Under Article 164 of the aforementioned Organic Law No. 41 of 2019, cases pending before the Court of Financial Discipline were transferred at the end of 2020 to the Court of Accounts chamber specialising in sanctions for management offences.

From its establishment to 31 December 2019, the Court of Financial Discipline received 711 cases and delivered 321 decisions during the same period. These were recorded in 24 annual reports published in the Official Gazette of the Tunisian Republic under Article 25 of the aforementioned Law No. 74 of 1985.

From its establishment towards the end of 2020 until 16 January 2026, the chamber:

– completed the investigation of 310 cases, as evidenced by the filing of final investigation reports;

– delivered 140 first-instance judgments transmitted to the secretariat of the Court of Accounts under Article 69 of the aforementioned Organic Law, 25 of which have been appealed to date;

– 19 judgments following deliberation are being drafted;

– 21 cases are at the deliberation stage;

– 26 cases will be scheduled for a hearing in 2026 following receipt of defence submissions;

– 82 cases are with the Public Prosecution Office awaiting its submissions.

The legal framework for sanctioning management offences has undergone major reform compared with the previous framework, principally in the following respects:

• the introduction of two levels of jurisdiction;
• recognition of fair-trial guarantees at both the investigation and judgment stages;
• extension of the persons subject to jurisdiction to include officers authorising State and local authority revenue and expenditure;
• extension of the list of persons entitled to refer cases to the chamber responsible for sanctioning management offences;
• the Public Prosecution Office has become the prosecuting authority for management offences; it may initiate proceedings on its own initiative and close cases by a reasoned decision.