UK ‘Fails To Freeze’ Mubarak-Era Assets

The UK government is failing in its commitment to freeze assets of the regime of former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, a BBC investigation has found.

Publicly available documents reveal property and companies linked to key figures in the Mubarak circle that have been unaffected by sanctions.

Egyptian officials accuse the UK of hiding stolen wealth and breaching international anti-corruption accords.

The UK says it is doing as much as it can to trace the funds.

Reports that President Hosni Mubarak and his inner circle stole tens of billions of dollars helped fuel the revolution which overthrew him on 11 February last year.

Three days later, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament the UK would co-operate with an Egyptian government request to freeze the assets of several former officials.

But it was a further 37 days before Britain and other EU states applied the sanctions – a period when Egypt says the accused officials were able to move their money elsewhere.

About £85m ($135m) of assets belonging to Mr Mubarak, his wife, two sons, and 15 other Egyptians have now been frozen in the UK.

BBC