Corrupt Tunisian police officer caught on camera demanding bribe

The minute and a half video posted online this week shows a man and his mother being harangued by a police officer, who threatens to confiscate their vehicle unless he is paid the bribe.

"We will impound your car and I swear on my mother it will never come out again unless you give me 40 dinars," the police officer can be heard telling the passengers.

"By God, I am not going to change my mind."

Police spokesman Yasir Misbah has told media that the officer in the video has been identified and that he will be held accountable for his actions.

Petty graft continues to plague Tunisia's economy, over five years after state corruption triggered the fall of long-time president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Corruption was endemic under dictator Ben Ali, whose close circle - especially his wife's family - had an iron grip on the economy.

"large-scale corruption has been put on pause... notably because there haven't been any big projects due to security, economic and social instability," Samir Annabi, head of the national anti-graft commission set up in late 2011, said last year.

But "petty corruption has been on the rise," he said. "Ben Ali's large-scale corruption has disappeared to give way to the trivialisation of petty corruption."

Last month, a Transparency International report said that corruption rates were better in Tunisia in comparison to other Arab states.

Only nine percent of Tunisians had paid a bribe to obtain a public service against 77 percent in Yemen and half of Egyptians.

"Tunisia had actually very positive results coming out of the survey," said report author Coralie Pring. "Many people feel that they can make a difference in the fight against corruption.

"Unfortunately even in Tunisia, despite the Arab Spring, still the majority of people were saying that their government is doing badly at fighting corruption."