The good news for Egypt is Mubarak has gone. The hope is the transition to a democracy will be smooth. The question is, where's Mubarak's money?
This from Bloomberg a few days ago was interesting:
The Swiss government is examining whether Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has assets in the country after Tunisia’s former leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s accounts were frozen last month.
“The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs is looking into” whether Mubarak or his family have any assets in the nation’s banks, and “the government will be informed, ” Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told SF in a television interview broadcast late yesterday, adding “there are no entirely clear signs, ” of whether Mubarak or his entourage do have assets in Switzerland.
Mubarak has said he intends to stay in his position until September even as daily rallies in Cairo call for him to step down.
Protests spread to Egypt after Tunisia’s former President Ben Ali left the country for Saudi Arabia. The Swiss government has said it blocked “tens of millions” of Ben Ali’s assets.
Switzerland’s reputation as an international banking center depends on the ability to check whether funds deposited in its banks had been acquired legally, Widmer-Schlumpf said. The government would act “appropriately, ” after the Mubarak investigation, she said, without being more specific or saying that any potential assets would be frozen.
Let's cut through that and state what really happened: when Ben Ali was in power Switzerland held his money without question being asked or concern as to its reputation. Now he's out of power they changed their tune. There's a word for that and hypocrisy is not good enough. If they could block in days after he fell they always knew the right answer and chose to turn a blind eye.
Have they done the same for Mubarak? Let's see.
What we do know is that money has fled Egypt. My friends at Global Financial Integrity have proven that.
Now it's time to give it back - and yes, the focus will be on Switzerland. And then London and Singapore.
Hat tip - Dennis Howlett re Bloomberg
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probably not very relevant, but I like the fact that the Swiss Finance minister’s surname is also the German word for the Smurfs!
Well we have now been told that Switzerland has frozen Mubarak’s assets but apparently London needs instruction from the EU, UN or Egyptian Govt. Why is that? How many other dictators’ assets are held in British banks in the City? Mubarak also has a significant property portfolio, some of which is located in the UK. The source of these financial transactions came from a country where 40 per cent of the population live on 2 dollars a day. As a nation, we seem not to to be concerned about any type of ethic in our business and commercial dealings. This highlights how debased our own society’s morality has become. Money poured into Premier League football clubs is another example. This money should be returned and used for the benefit of all the citizens of the countries from where it originated.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2011/02/rpi_to_cpi_costs_pension_saver.html
Equally important, where did the money come from in the first place? Since we know the rich do not pay taxes, one can easily surmise the ill-gotten booty equals years of taxes paid by the poor in the UK, US and elsewhere in the form of foreign assistance.
A prime example of taxes of the poor being used to support the lifestyles of the rich.
What properties in London?
@Teresa Harding
And from whom does Jeersay, Gainsay and the Isle of Shame receive “instructions” b4 tipping-up information? Past exploits would suggest that, under their thin veneer of pretence, these islands are not accountable to anybody (with any teeth).
@Not the FSA
I call their regimes “constructive non-compliance”
I think the other Governments of the world know Mubarak and his family stole whatever they could and it is spread around, so all Governments best get off their butts and do the right thing. How much money does a president of a country earn annually !!!! certainly does not add up to what that Mubarak and family has stolen.