Cairo: The family of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has illegally amassed wealth to the tune of 9 billion Egyptian pounds (Dh4.70 billion), justice authorities have said.
The fortune contrasts with the general state of a population of 85 million — around 40 per cent of which lives below the poverty line.
Public attorney Mahmoud Al Hefnawi told a Cairo criminal Court on Thursday that the estimated wealth includes 3 billion pounds in cash, corporate stakes worth 5 billion pounds and real-estate assets worth 1 billion pounds.
“Mubarak abused his influence to make illegal gains for himself and his family,” the state-run newspaper Al Ahram quoted Al Hefnawi as telling the court.
Mubarak was toppled in a 2011 uprising after nearly 30 years in power.
Al Hefnawi presented to the court official documents, based on reports by the state-run watchdogs including the Administrative Monitoring Authority, the Central Auditing Agency and the Illicit Gains Authority.
Citing alleged irregularities, the official said that Mubarak had bought two Nile-side luxury apartments in Cairo from the now-jailed business tycoon Hesham Talaat Mustafa for $1.5 million although their market prices were $4.6 million.
Al Hefnawi, citing a report from official auditors, also accused Mubarak of getting five villas for himself and his two sons, Ala’a and Jamal, in the resort town of Sharm Al Shaikh as a gift from business mogul Hussain Salem, who is being tried in absentia on charges of wasting public money through dubious gas export deals to Israel.
Alaa’s wife, Haidy, purportedly obtained in 2005 a 5,000-metre piece of land owned by the state in Sharm Al Shaikh for 1 million pounds while its market price at the time was about 8 million pounds, according to the official.
Mubarak and his two sons are being detained pending trials in several corruption cases. They all have denied the charges, confirming that their wealth has been legally gained.
At the end of a lengthy hearing, the court late on Thursday rejected an appeal by prosecution and upheld an earlier order to release Mubarak from detention. However, Mubarak, 85, is being kept in police custody in connection with other cases related to alleged waste of public money on renovating presidential palaces. He is also being tried on charges of complicity in killing protesters during the 2011 revolt.
