# UK failing to freeze assets



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

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.


The British government is obliged by law to help us”

Assem al-Gohary
Head of Egypt's Illicit Gains Authority
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.

But the BBC investigation found assets that have apparently been missed.

The publicly accessible Companies House register reveals that one of those named on the sanctions list, Naglaa al-Ghazaerly, wife of the former housing minister, was able to register a company in her own name in London in November 2011, seven months after her assets were ordered to be frozen.


The Medinvest company continued operating until February 2012
Another similar document shows that a London investment company, Medinvest Associates, co-founded by Mr Mubarak's younger son Gamal, and still belonging to a Cypriot firm he helped run, continued operating until it dissolved itself, voluntarily, in February this year - 11 months after sanctions were imposed.

Meanwhile there is no indication on Land Registry documents of any freeze on the large house worth between £8m and £10m in Wilton Place, off Knightsbridge in London, that was Gamal Mubarak's UK home for many years until the Egyptian revolution.

He listed the house as his address as recently as 2010, when it appears on the birth certificate of his daughter Farida.

The house is registered to a company in the tax haven of Panama. But in international practice, sanctions should apply to any assets of which the named individual is the "beneficial owner" - the person who enjoys the benefit of them, even if the title is in another name.

Britain has accepted official requests from Egypt for legal assistance to help trace and freeze assets. But Egypt says the UK is asking for more information before it can proceed further - information Egypt says it does not have.



It is crucial that the recovery and return of stolen assets is lawful”

Assem al-Gohary, head of Egypt's Illicit Gains Authority said: "The British government is obliged by law to help us. But it doesn't want to make any effort at all to recover the money. It just says: 'Give us evidence'. Is this reasonable? We are in Egypt, looking for money in the UK."

The Foreign Office says it has passed all information received from the BBC to relevant authorities, but cannot comment further on individual cases.

Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said: "We understand the strength of feeling in Egypt on this issue and are working closely with their authorities to identify and restrain assets their courts have identified as stolen."

But he added: "It is crucial that the recovery and return of stolen assets is lawful. It is simply not possible for the UK to deprive a person of their assets and return them to an overseas country in the absence of a criminal conviction and confiscation order."

He said Britain could not have acted more quickly to freeze assets because such an order cannot be made on the basis of suspicion alone, and it took time to agree a freeze with all 27 EU states, as was necessary.


The UK is one of the worst countries when it comes to tracing and freezing Egyptian assets”

Mohamed Mahsoub
Egyptian Legal Affairs Minister
The UK's approach contrasts with that of Switzerland - once known as an easy place to conceal money - which froze the assets of Mubarak and his associates within half an hour of his resignation last year.

The Swiss Federal Prosecutor Michael Lauber told the BBC he had a team of more than 20 police investigators tracing suspected illicit Egyptian assets.

The total amount frozen has risen from CHF410m (£270m) in February 2011 to about CHF700m (£470m) now - while the amount frozen in the UK has not risen since last year.

Egypt's new Legal Affairs Minister Mohamed Mahsoub said: "The UK is one of the worst countries when it comes to tracing and freezing Egyptian assets."

But he said Egypt itself, where elements of the old regime are still influential, had also failed to investigate adequatell


----------



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Has there been any news on the cash plus bank accounts that were found here? What has happened to the funds, where have they gone?


----------



## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

"It is crucial that the recovery and return of stolen assets is lawful. It is simply not possible for the UK to deprive a person of their assets and return them to an overseas country in the absence of a criminal conviction and confiscation order.

"We are therefore working closely with the appropriate authorities in Egypt to help them understand the legal process and how to work with it effectively and efficiently, including through expert-to-expert contacts in the UK and Cairo, the signing of a memorandum of understanding on intelligence sharing with the Egyptian financial intelligence unit, and increased police-to-police intelligence co-operation."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/02/scandal-mubarak-regime-millions-assets-uk?CMP=twt_gu

I don't doubt that UK authorities are dragging their feet on this issue for the reasons stated in the Guardian's article. But I am also pretty certain that some incompetent Egyptian good-for-nothing has "demanded" the freeze and return of assets and failed to provide any evidence to back up the request. That may work in Egypt but not in the EU.


----------



## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

BBC's Mubarak millions

BBC 2 Newsnight Mubarak's Missing Millions 03_09_2012.wmv - YouTube


----------



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

aykalam said:


> BBC's Mubarak millions
> 
> BBC 2 Newsnight Mubarak's Missing Millions 03_09_2012.wmv - YouTube




Well done to Switzerland for freezing assets within 30 minutes of Mubarak leaving his palace.. however it still raises the question as why these country allow money to be deposited that can only be through theft or fraud.


----------



## Whitedesert (Oct 9, 2011)

aykalam said:


> "It is crucial that the recovery and return of stolen assets is lawful. It is simply not possible for the UK to deprive a person of their assets and return them to an overseas country in the absence of a criminal conviction and confiscation order.
> 
> "We are therefore working closely with the appropriate authorities in Egypt to help them understand the legal process and how to work with it effectively and efficiently, including through expert-to-expert contacts in the UK and Cairo, the signing of a memorandum of understanding on intelligence sharing with the Egyptian financial intelligence unit, and increased police-to-police intelligence co-operation."
> 
> ...


 What I find most interesting has nothing to do with Mubaraks millions. I am facinated that the British media now calls him a dictator. One week before the 25th Jan 2011 they called him the Egyptian President. Strange....very strange.


----------



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Whitedesert said:


> What I find most interesting has nothing to do with Mubaraks millions. I am facinated that the British media now calls him a dictator. One week before the 25th Jan 2011 they called him the Egyptian President. Strange....very strange.




Come on I think most countries now call him that..


----------



## Whitedesert (Oct 9, 2011)

MaidenScotland said:


> Come on I think most countries now call him that..


 If by most you mean some significant 1st world countries like the US, Germany, Italy, etc I agree...For the US Mubarak meant peace around Israel, (more important than human rights in Egypt) for Germany and Italy there was significant trade and services (GDP is also more important than human rights). After that other countries just said, "well, o/k, if that is the way the wind blows".


----------



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

The Cairo Criminal Court rejected on Thursday a request by the Justice Ministry’s Illicit Gains Authority to freeze the assets of former Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, which the IGA made after referring him to the criminal court on 3 September.

According to Egyptian law, a freezing order has to be approved by a court. The court is expected to set a date to begin Hosni’s trial over charges leveled by the IGA.

During its most recent session on Wednesday, the court heard Hosni's defense lawyer who described the freezing request as “impetuous and contradictory.” The lawyer said the IGA interrogated his client in May 2011 and that the interrogator told him his wealth was legally created.

The Illicit Gains Authority asked Hosni to repay LE18 million, an amount that includes LE9 million that the former minister allegedly acquired illegally during his work for the government, and another LE9 million in fines.

Investigations into Hosni began soon after former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted on 11 February 2011. He was initially banned from travel, but that ban was lifted a few months later.

Hosni joins many other former officials and businessmen associated with the Mubarak regime who have been referred to criminal court on corruption charges, a main demand of the revolution.


----------



## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

MaidenScotland said:


> The Cairo Criminal Court rejected on Thursday a request by the Justice Ministry’s Illicit Gains Authority to freeze the assets of former Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, which the IGA made after referring him to the criminal court on 3 September.
> 
> According to Egyptian law, a freezing order has to be approved by a court. The court is expected to set a date to begin Hosni’s trial over charges leveled by the IGA.
> 
> ...


and yet the UK authorities should be bending the rules or else they are not cooperating, etc...do as I say, not as I do springs to mind


----------



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

aykalam said:


> and yet the UK authorities should be bending the rules or else they are not cooperating, etc...do as I say, not as I do springs to mind



Egypt will not learn, grow, improve until they stop blaming the world for all their problems.

It seems to be an ingrained trait... it wasn't me it was him,


----------

