Egypt seeks freeze on Mubarak assets

Egypt's prosecutor general yesterday requested a freeze on the foreign assets of Hosni Mubarak and his family, 10 days after the longtime president resigned in the face of a popular uprising.
Abdel Magid Mahmud tasked Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit with contacting foreign countries to seek a freeze on assets held by Mubarak, his wife Suzanne, sons Alaa and Gamal and their wives Heidi Rashekh and Khadiga al-Gammal, his office said.
Mubarak is widely thought to have grown wealthy during his three decades in power, although an unidentified legal adviser was quoted by the state-run MENA news agency on Sunday as saying that talk of a multi-billion-dollar fortune was nothing but "a groundless rumour".
Switzerland, which froze Mubarak's assets within hours of his resignation on February 11, said on Sunday that the former president had "tens of millions of francs" in Swiss financial institutions.
"We do not yet know if these funds are legitimate or not," said Swiss foreign ministry Stefan von Below, adding that if they had been illegally obtained, "competent judicial bodies will decide who are the entitled parties".
Twelve people have had their assets pre-emptively frozen by Switzerland, including Mubarak's immediate family members as well as four of his government ministers.