Egypt’s Attorney General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud ordered the freezing of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his family’s assets abroad.
According to a statement on Monday, the attorney general instructed the Minister of Foreign Affairs to request–through diplomatic channels–foreign countries to freeze accounts of Mubarak, his wife Suzanne Saleh Thabet, his eldest son Alaa and Alaa’s wife Heidi Magdy Rasekh, Mubarak’s younger son Gamal Mubarak and Gamal’s wife Khadija Mahmoud al-Gamal.
Mubarak’s legal representative denied reports by some Egyptian and foreign media regarding the size of Mubarak's accumulated wealth and the former president's alleged assets and property abroad which has been approximated at over $70 billion.
A document revealed by an Egyptian rights center on Sunday appears to show that ousted President Hosni Mubarak owns platinum worth US$15 billion.
A request for an investigation into the document's authenticity has been filed with the attorney general by Khaled Ali, head of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights.
He attached a scan of a United Bank of Switzerland deposit form to enable investigations.
According to the transaction, Mubarak deposited 19,000kg of platinum in his Swiss bank account on 11 December 1982. Its worth was estimated at US$14.9 billion at the time.
In a statement to Al-Masry Al-Youm, Ali said he did not know if the document was genuine, but felt it was necessary to report it to the attorney general. He said his motive was to safeguard public funds.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
