Mubarak family fortune could reach $70bn, say expertsEgyptian president has cash in British and Swiss banks plus UK and US property
Phillip Inman
guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 February 2011 17.58 GMT
President Hosni Mubarak's family fortune could be as much as $70bn (£43.5bn) according to analysis by Middle East experts, with much of his wealth in British and Swiss banks or tied up in real estate in London, New York, Los Angeles and along expensive tracts of the Red Sea coast.After 30 years as president and many more as a senior military official, Mubarak has had access to investment deals that have generated hundreds of millions of pounds in profits.
Most of those gains have been taken offshore and deposited in secret bank accounts or invested in upmarket homes and hotels.
According to a report last year in the Arabic newspaper Al Khabar, Mubarak has properties in Manhattan and exclusive Beverly Hills addresses on Rodeo Drive.
His sons,
Gamal and Alaa, are also billionaires. A protest outside Gamal's ostentatious home at 28 Wilton Place in Belgravia, central London, highlighted the family's appetite for western trophy assets.
Amaney Jamal, a political science professor at Princeton University, said
the estimate of $40bn-70bn was comparable with the vast wealth of leaders in other Gulf countries.
"The business ventures from his military and government service accumulated to his personal wealth," she told ABC news. "There was a lot of corruption in this regime and stifling of public resources for personal gain.
"This is the pattern of other Middle Eastern dictators so their wealth will not be taken during a transition. These leaders plan on this."Al Khabar said it understood the Mubaraks kept much of their wealth offshore in the
Swiss bank UBS and the Bank of Scotland, part of Lloyds Banking Group, although this information could be at least 10 years old.
There are only sketchy details of exactly where the Mubaraks have generated their wealth and its final destination.
Christopher Davidson, professor of Middle East politics at Durham University, said
Mubarak, his wife, Suzanne, and two sons were able to accumulate wealth through a number of business partnerships with foreign investors and companies, dating back to when he was in the military and in a position to benefit from corporate corruption.
He said most Gulf states required foreigners give a local business partner a 51% stake in start-up ventures. In Egypt, the figure is commonly nearer 20%, but still gives politicians and close allies in the military a source of huge profits with no initial outlay and little risk.
"
Almost every project needs a sponsor and Mubarak was well-placed to take advantage of any deals on offer," he said.
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Much of his money is in Swiss bank accounts and London property. These are the favourites of Middle Eastern leaders and there is no reason to think Mubarak is any different. Gamal's Wilton Place home is likely to be the tip of the iceberg."
Al Khabar named a series of major western companies that, partnered with the Mubarak family, generated an estimated $15m a year in profits.
Aladdin Elaasar, author of
The Last Pharaoh: Mubarak and the Uncertain Future of Egypt in the Obama Age, said the Mubaraks own several residences in Egypt, some inherited from previous presidents and the monarchy, and others the president has commissioned.
Hotels and land around the Sharm el-Sheikh tourist resort are also a source of Mubarak family wealth.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/fe ... ly-fortune*
on edit: Elassar's book was published July 2009. here are the blurbs. interesting, to say the least.
"Combining an uncanny sense of clarity and understatement, Aladdin Elaasar weaves Egypt's historical grandeur with an unnerving cascade of political intrigue that reveals a side of Mubarak the world cannot long ignore. In one fell swoop, the reader's admiration for Egypt is both strengthened, and the source of unease revealed, as the author sheds light on the darkness of Egyptian politics that could one day turn catastrophic. With so much at stake, the West is slowly coming to grips with a new reality; a reality which no single book or author could possibly address." --Professor Tate Miller, expert on International Negotiations at the Monterey Institute of International Studies
"Peeling back layer after complex layer of Egypt's politics, culture, and intrigues, Elaasar de-mystifies Egypt without tarnishing her almost mystical status as the pinnacle of Arabian culture, and the bedrock of human civilization. This book is stunning in its revelations of Mubarak's stranglehold on every aspect of life in this glorious, long suffering nation. Connecting one mysterious dot to the next, Elaasar teases the reader from chapter to chapter, as he lucidly explains the details of Egypt's worst kept secrets of all...the 'secret' of Mubarak's power and how he plans to rule from his own royal crypt." --Professor Tate Miller, expert on International Negotiations at the Monterey Institute of International Studies
"Egypt is the next domino to fall and, as they say, so goes Egypt so goes the Middle East...explaining why a pillar of American dominance in that part of the world is about to crumble." --Robert Baer, former Middle East-based CIA operative and author of See No Evil, and Sleeping with the Devil
"Let me give you the four scariest words I can't pronounce in Arabic: Egypt after Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak's "emergency rule" dictatorship is deep into its third decade, making him one of Egypt's most durable pharaohs. His succession plan is clear: Son Gamal tries to replicate Beijing's model of economic reform, forestalling political reform... American policymakers could soon face the same tough choice on Egypt that they once suffered with Iran's faltering Shah: Step in with maximum effort during a succession crisis or let the chips fall where they may. Washington's soft peddling of democracy hasn't moved the highly corrupt government toward any serious political reform, as the Mubarak's prefer Beijing's blueprint over anything we might offer. And, as the regime resorts to stoking anti-Western and anti-Semitic popular sentiment, it gets harder to imagine a path forward for U.S.-Egyptian relations as this global recession advances. All I can say, Mr. President, is that when you decide which major Islamic capital will be the venue for your much-anticipated address to the Muslim world, do yourself a favor and pass on restive Cairo, because you just might trigger more response than your administration can afford right now." --Professor Thomas P. M. Barnett, Naval War College
"When it happens, it will rock the world..: octogenarian Mubarak, will leave office, either by his own decision or that of Providence, probably within the next three years. So far, few in the West have paid much attention. But Egyptians certainly are getting ready, and we should do so as well." --Georgetown University Professor Michelle Dunne, expert on Arab politics and U.S. policy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
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"Teach them to think. Work against the government." – Wittgenstein.
