Abdel Al urges recovery of stolen assets during visit to Switzerland

Egypt’s speaker of parliament Ali Abdel Al has again called on Switzerland to work with Egypt in recovering millions of dollars of assets linked to ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, state news agency MENA said.

Abdel Al began his visit to the Swiss cities of Bern and Geneva on Sunday, his first international trip since coming to office last month.

The speaker held talks with the president of the Swiss National Council, Christa Markwalder, to discuss means of bolstering cooperation and mutual ties between both chambers.

Abdel Al urged cooperation from the chamber on recovering nearly 700 million Swiss francs worth of ill-gotten assets stashed by former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his entourage in Swiss banks.

Swiss authorities blocked the funds following the ouster of Mubarak in February 2011, with Egyptian officials making several formal requests to Switzerland for judicial assistance to recover the money.

Markwalder said her country is awaiting final court rulings proving the funds were illicitly transferred from Egypt to take necessary measures for the recovery, MENA said.

Swiss officials have previously said they need legal evidence that the money was obtained unlawfully.

Abdel Al, a constitutional expert who was elected to head parliament in January, was due late on Monday in Geneva where he would hold talks at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

He is also planning to fly to Albania to take part in the 10th Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (UFM).

Egypt’s parliament convened for the first time in January after a three-day lapse since the 2012 Islamist-dominated chamber was dissolved by a court order.

source: Ahram Online