TUNIS (Reuters) -A Tunisian court has ordered the release of olive oil exporter Abdelaziz Makhloufi on bail of $17 million, his lawyers said on Wednesday.
The founder of CHO Group, Tunisia’s largest olive oil export company, was arrested last year over allegations of mismanagement of a state-owned agricultural property in the Sfax region, known as Henchir Chaâl, which has about 400,000 olive trees.
A spokesperson for Makhloufi did not respond to a request to comment on the charges.
The court’s order follows months of pre-trial detention and growing pressure from industry to prevent prolonged disruption to the country’s olive oil export chain. No date has been set for the trial.
Tunisia’s olive oil output this season is expected to increase by about 50% from last year to a record 500,000 metric tons, the head of the Olive Producers Chamber told Reuters last month.
($1 = 2.9171 Tunisian dinars)
(Reporting By Tarek Amara; Editing by Conor Humphries)
