Assets and stocks worth US$3million (LE18 million) were found to be owned by the Egypt-based International Peace Research Institute (IPRI), which is affiliated to the Suzanne Mubarak Women’s International Peace Movement, whose activities had been frozen, said Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
Serageldin told Al-Masry Al-Youm that he submitted a request to the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Social Security for the transfer of all the assets of the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement in Switzerland to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s Center for Peace and Democracy Studies (CPDS) and for them to be subjected to Central Auditing Authority (CAA) supervision.
He went on to say that Suzanne Mubarak was unable to transfer any funds to Switzerland through her movement’s branches that work with the CPDS. He explained that the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement’s main branch is located in Switzerland and that it operates in Egypt, and that no funds were transferred from Cairo to Switzerland as each branch has an independent budget.
Serageldin said he requested the cancellation of the movement’s work permit, that it is shut down in Egypt, and the transfer of all of its assets and funds to the IPRI.
He said that all assets were reviewed with the help of representatives of the Ministry of Social Insurance and that they were transferred to the IPRI in Egypt until they can be transferred to the CPDS.
Serageldin said there was little possibility that the Swiss side would sue the government in order to recover the funds and assets. Swiss law allows the transfer of funds from one non-governmental organization to another as long as it performs the same activity, he said, adding that “these steps have been taken and these funds were transferred from private Swiss to public Egyptian funds under the supervision of the CAA.”
Hossam Eissa, a member of the Legal Committee to Recover the Wealth of Egyptians, said that Swiss law must be carefully reviewed in order to avoid any gaps that could allow the transfer of these assets abroad.
He said the committee was currently following the Mubarak family assets in Switzerland, but that the Swiss government had requested official intervention by the Egyptian government rather than committees. He criticized the government for failing to officially intervene especially since the governments of Switzerland and the UK have both shown significant cooperation. He described the Egyptian government’s position as “strange.”
Eissa complained that much of the committee’s work had been stalled due to the failure of state intervention. He pointed out that the sources for the Mubarak family funds are yet to be identified, which impedes their recovery.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
