Egypt to freeze assets of former President Mubarak

2011-02-22 03:11:14 GMT+7 (ICT)

CAIRO, EGYPT (BNO NEWS) -- Egypt's prosecutor-general on Monday ordered the Foreign Ministry to request the freezing of assets of former President Hosni Mubarak, the Daily Al-Ahram newspaper reported.

The freeze will target the assets in foreign countries of Mubarak, his wife, Suzanne, his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, and two daughters-in-law, Heidy and Khadija. The freeze will be sought through diplomatic means.

The fortune of the Mubarak family is estimated at around $70 billion. Sources close to the ousted president denied the sum. On Sunday, Mubarak submitted a routine statement detailing his assets to judicial authorities.

The assets freeze indicates that former leader Mubarak could be held to account by the military leadership that took control of the North African nation. In recent days, anti-Mubarak protesters demanded that he be held accountable for squandering the nation's wealth.

Last week, Egyptian authorities ordered the arrests of former Ministers of Interior Habib El-Adly, of Tourism Zuheir Garannah, and of Housing Ahmed El-Maghraby on corruption charges.

In addition, authorities froze assets of El-Adly and his family as reports surfaced indicating that over $680,000 were transferred to his personal account by the head of a real estate contracting company.

The army took control of Egypt after Mubarak stepped down and announced that it will run the country temporarily for six months or until elections are held. Mubarak, who led Egypt as president for three decades, left the country after weeks of anti-government protests by crowds calling for greater democracy and respect of human rights.

The military council also dissolved the parliament and suspended the constitution. Last week, the Egyptian Higher Military Council appointed a committee in charge of proposing constitutional amendments to address demands of the people.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-02-22

If they put him on trial for all the bad things he did then perhaps they can claim back their assets after they chop his head off.

Also, in this era of heightened transparency, just what noises are the Swiss, Lichtenstein, Caribbean banks making ?

Presumably he's off to that land of the free and democratic dictatorship which welcomes other deposed dictators, Saudi Arabia.