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Egypt calls on Western countries to return smuggled funds

Justice Minister Ahmed Mekky called on Western countries to help the Arab people by returning money in their banks smuggled abroad by members of former ruling regimes.

In a speech Saturday morning opening a regional conference on bankrupcty, Mekky expressed his wish that the West act justly on both political and economic issues.

“Egypt’s ongoing tragedy is financial confusion due to internal turmoil,” he explained, adding that the country needs to overcome these issues to attract investment and gain the confidence of international lending institutions.

The conference started Saturday in Cairo and will run until 26 November. It is sponsored by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and aims to reform the bankruptcy system in order to attract investments to the private sector.

The Shura Council’s Finance and Economic Affairs Committee has said that members of Hosni Mubarak’s regime smuggled an estimated US$134 billion abroad.

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