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“This plaintiff is requesting a suspension (of his removal) without attesting to the facts that are alleged, and, what is more, he disappears to the point where his lawyers say he is nowhere to be found,” Justice Yvan Roy wrote in a May 26 decision rejecting Trabelsi’s request.

The Immigration and Refugee Board ruled last year that Trabelsi’s role in the corruption that drew the wrath of Tunisian mobs during the 2011 Jasmine Revolution disqualifies him from remaining in Canada.

Citing evidence that Trabelsi, 53, had taken bribes to help foreign companies land government contracts in Tunisia, the IRB concluded there was reason to believe he was guilty of “serious non-political crimes, specifically fraud on the government, fraud and laundering proceeds of crime.”

After Trabelsi’s sister Leila married Ben Ali in 1994, his business fortunes soared. The IRB decision described the billionaire as Tunisia’s “most prominent businessman” and “one of the most influential people” in the country before the 2011.

Mr. Trabelsi had argued that he amassed his business empire, including holdings in hotels, real estate, aviation and broadcasting, through hard work and entrepreneurial savvy, not government assistance.

The IRB cited a 2014 World Bank report that documented how the Ben Ali family and others close to the regime were receiving more than one-fifth of all private-sector profits in the country at the time the regime was toppled.

Trabelsi’s wife, Zohra Djilani, and their four children have been granted refugee status in Canada, according to Trabelsi’s lawyer. The lawyer said they have not disappeared, but Jilani claims not to know where her husband is.

Trabelsi was convicted in absentia and sentenced to 15 years in prison for corruption, unlawful trade in precious metals and unlawful transfer of currency.

• Email: ghamilton@nationalpost.com | Twitter: grayhamilton