$70 billion? Hunt begins for Mubarak fortune

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

CAIRO — Switzerland has frozen whatever assets Hosni Mubarak and his associates may have there, and anti-corruption campaigners are demanding the same of other countries. But experts say hunting for the deposed Egyptian leader’s purported hidden wealth — let alone recovering it — will be an enormous task.

Mubarak’s actual worth remains a mystery. A recent claim that he and his sons Gamal and Alaa may have amassed a fortune of up to $70 billion — greater than that of Microsoft’s Bill Gates — helped drive the protests that eventually brought him down.

“Oh, Mubarak, tell us where you got 70 billion dollars!” protesters chanted in demonstrations before Egypt’s ruler of 30 years was driven from office Friday, and left Cairo for a gated compound in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Anti-corruption campaigners are urging other countries to freeze assets.

“It’s going to be a very difficult task, but in the interest of public money, things need to move now,” said Omnia Hussien, Egypt expert at the advocacy group Transparency International.

Rumors of hidden riches, such as expensive real estate in Britain, the United States and elsewhere, were fueled by the cozy ties between the Mubaraks and Egypt’s business elite.

The sale of state companies and public land for cheap, starting in the 1990s, were key sources of enrichment for the two sides, said Ahmed Elsayed Elnaggar, editor of Egypt’s Economic Report.

“Privatization . . . is the biggest corruption process in Egypt all over its history, from the period of the pharaohs, until now,” he said.

Egypt can only start the long process of recovering assets once it launches criminal investigations, said Daniel Thelesklaf, who heads the Basel-based International Center for Asset Recovery. After that first step, Switzerland can release bank information, to be followed by the return of assets following convictions, he said.

AP