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?<\/p>\n
This from Bloomberg a few days ago <\/a>was interesting:<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n Mubarak has said he intends to stay in his position until September even as daily rallies in Cairo call for him to step down.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n 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.<\/p>\n Have they done the same for Mubarak? Let's see.<\/p>\n What we do know is that money has fled Egypt. My friends at Global Financial Integrity have proven that<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now it's time to give it back - and yes, the focus will be on Switzerland. And then London and Singapore.<\/p>\n Hat tip - Dennis Howlett re Bloomberg<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"