Action demanded over Mubarak assets
By politics.co.uk staff
Any assets held by Egypt’s ousted president Hosni Mubarak in Britain should be frozen, Labour has demanded.
Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander called on the government to demand an investigation from the Serious Fraud Office after business secretary Vince Cable said freezing suspicious accounts “would be a very prudent thing to do”.
Mr Mubarak’s family holds assets worth at least £1.5 billion, according to reports.
“Britain must be ready to act swiftly in response to any request received from the Egyptian or international authorities to freeze wrongly appropriated assets,” Mr Alexander said.
“At least 20% of the Egyptian population live below its poverty line of $2 a day: We should play our part in ensuring that any money which rightly belongs to the Egyptian people is returned to them.”
Mr Cable had told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show that he supported the move, given the likely delay expected before steps are taken by the new government in Egypt.
“It would be a real pity if when they did the money had gone. I think it would be great for the reputation for the City of London if those accounts were frozen now,” Mr Cable said.
“There is no point in one government acting in isolation but certainly we need to look at it. It depends also whether his funds were illegally obtained or improperly obtained.”
The European Union froze the assets of 46 allies and relatives of the deposed Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his wife earlier this month, according to reports.
In Egypt, the army tightened its grip on power by suspending the constitution and dissolving parliament.
“You have to manage this process of change very carefully. I think the military council will do that,” Middle East envoy Tony Blair told the same programme earlier.
