Where has all of the Mubarak-era money gone?

CAIRO – 21 December 2017: Most Egyptians have been wondering since the uprising of January 2011 where all of the Mubarak-era smuggled money and illicit gains have gone. Some people thought they would be richer a few months after the revolution; however, as the days went by, that dream started to fade.

About 650 million francs ($664 million) were frozen by the Swiss government shortly after the revolution of January 2011. In order to investigate if the money came through illegal ways, mutual cooperation between Egypt's general prosecutor and his Swiss counterpart was announced. The charges against former President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, along with several other political figures and businessmen, varied between money laundering and organized crime.

The cooperation between both sides came as a result of Egyptian efforts and legal claims to restore frozen money after proving that it was smuggled in illegal methods. All the needed papers and documents were then submitted to the Swiss government, which in turn, approved the freeze of Mubarak’s assets and cooperated in the investigations, according to Al Arabiya in July 2012.

The assets of 14 suspects, including Mubark’s sons Gamal and Alaa, were frozen during 2011. However, in December 2016, Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber announced in a press conference in Cairo that charges of money laundering and organized crime were dropped against a number of suspects and that a total of 180 million Swiss francs ($175.52 million) were unfrozen and returned to their owners.

The dropping of the charges came upon Egypt’s request after some of the included suspects reconciled with the state and repaid huge amounts of money.

New amendments to the Illicit Gains Authority law passed during 2015 gave the 14-defendents listed in the assets-freeze an opportunity to reconcile with the state. It was mentioned that in return for reconciliation with the state, all of the charges against them would be dropped.

The new amendments presented a good opportunity for several Mubarak-era figures and businessmen; however, not all of them succeeded to meet the mentioned criteria by the state.

Last June, former Trade Minister Rashid Mohamed Rashid, whose assets were frozen upon investigations, returned to Egypt from Italy after reconciliation with the government.

In March 2017, Rashid’s lawyer, Ashraf Abu El Kheir, said in statements to Egypt Today that the Egyptian authorities have lifted the freeze on the assets of his client and his family – both inside and outside Egypt – and his name has been removed from the travel ban list.

Abu El Kheir confirmed that Rashid would be able to return to Egypt anytime and can travel freely without being arrested.

All criminal charges against Rashid were dropped following a reconciliation deal with the government that was approved in November. The deal required Rashid to pay nearly EGP 500 million ($28 million) to the government.

Also, on July 2017, Spanish-Egyptian businessman Hussein Salem arrived in Cairo from Spain after reaching a reconciliation agreement with the government.

He was accused of profiting from his relationship with ousted President Hosni Mubarak and exporting gas to Israel for less than the global price in order to achieve personal benefits.

The Egyptian authorities had announced reconciliation with Salem under the condition he give up 75% of his properties, which are worth a value exceeding EGP 5.8 billion.

On September 2017, Swiss authorities ceased their legal cooperation with Egypt over the charged businessmen and Mubarak-era figures.

“The Swiss judicial authorities have notified the Egyptian Attorney General that the mutual legal assistance procedures, which were opened in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring, had been closed with no concrete evidence,” the statement issued by the Swiss government then read. In turn, Egypt condemned Switzerland’s decision.

On December 20, 2017, the Federal Council in Switzerland issued a statement announcing it would lift the assets-freeze on Mubarak and the remaining affiliated figures involved with charges during his era.

“The fact of being listed in the ordinance on frozen assets does not necessarily mean that the persons concerned hold assets in Switzerland. In particular, this was not the case with former President Hosni Mubarak,” the statement read.

The statement also explained that despite the freeze dating back to 2011 and covering an amount of approximately 700 million Swiss francs, it declined to about 430 million Swiss francs following “the delisting of names from the ordinance at the request of the Egyptian authorities, who have in the meantime concluded reconciliation agreements.”

The Federal Council in Switzerland finally concluded, saying that despite the joint efforts undertaken, the cooperation between the two countries has failed to produce the anticipated results.

Last November, a public campaign was published on avaaz.org calling for the Swiss Federal Council not to release Mubarak’s frozen assets in December. The campaign, however, was not signed by many people. Only 139 signatures were spotted on the website.

According to the statement of the campaign published on avaaz, there is still a lack of evidence that the remaining frozen-assets came through legal ways, especially since some of the involved defendants are still being tried.

Additional reporting by Samar Samir