Egypt bans travel by Mubarak and family, and freezes assets
Egypt has
reportedly banned Hosni Mubarak and his family from traveling and frozen
their assets, including money transfers, real estate, stocks and bonds
in companies and banks
Egypt has reportedly banned Hosni Mubarak and his family from
travelling and frozen their assets, including money transfers, real
estate, stocks and bonds in companies and banks.
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Ex-president Mubarak |
The public prosecutor’s office in Cairo said it has received several
complaints about how Mubarak increased his wealth by illegitimate means
in Egypt, according to a statement sent to Bloomberg.
On February 21, Egypt’s prosecutor general, Abdel Magid Mahmud, asked
the Foreign Minister to request that the foreign assets of the former
president and his family be frozen.
The prosecutor charged Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit with
contacting foreign countries to seek the assets freeze.
Switzerland has frozen tens of millions of Swiss francs in assets
belonging to members of the former Mubarak regime.
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Mubarak and his family |
On February 11, just an hour after Mubarak stepped down, Switzerland
ordered its banks to search for any assets held by the former president
or 13 other individuals, including his wife, his sons and several of his
top ministers. Bern said February 18 that it had blocked “several dozens
of millions of francs” belonging to figures associated with Mubarak.
Mubarak submitted a financial disclosure statement to judicial
authorities February 20, as he routinely does, the state-run Middle East
News Agency reported on February 20. At the time, an unidentified
representative of the former president denied media reports about the
size of Mubarak’s wealth and about accounts and properties he held
abroad.
Mubarak stepped down on February 11 after 30 years as president
following a popular revolt. Egypt’s army has dissolved the parliament
and suspended the constitution pending elections.
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People protesting on the streets |
Media reported several weeks ago that the Mubarak family fortune
could be as high as $70 billion, much of it in Swiss banks or tied up in
real estate in New York, Los Angeles and London.
The $70 billion would put the 82-year-old comfortably ahead of
Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim Helu, worth about $53.5 billion,
and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the richest American with $53 billion.
According to Princeton political science professor Amaney Jamal,
quoted by ABC, Mubarak’s three-decade rule in Egypt had kept him in a
perfect spot to get a piece of any government action. Corruption of the
Egyptian political and economic system was one of the main grievances of
the protesters that brought down Mubarak, fueling social unrest and
demands for wage increases
The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper, meanwhile, reported that the
Mubarak family had “secret accounts in Egyptian banks,” including
deposits of $147 million for his wife Suzanne and $100 million each for
his sons, according to Agence France-Presse.
Global Post |
