Updated

A leading Tunisian economist estimates that the family of Tunisia's ex-dictator embezzled more than $20 billion dollars from the North African country.

A U.N. team on Thursday presented Tunisia with a check for $28 million dollars recovered from the Lebanese bank account of Leila Trabelsi, wife of deposed president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Economist Ezzedine Saidane on Friday describe the check as a "small sum" easily obtained, and warned that it could take 15 to 20 years to find the rest.

Information about the Lebanese account was found in a presidential palace near the capital, making it relatively easy to recover.

The Tunisian economy has been hard hit by its revolution and the financial crisis in its European trading partners.