Found this at Slate. Thought you might want to read it:

http://www.slate.com/id/2284862?wpisrc=xs_wp_0001

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ted-ruler.html

the Swiss banks had no issue in keeping the money whilst Hosni was a Western ally.

Assuming he was not smart enough to move his assets out before he resigned.

So, he stashed his money in Switzerland only? That should hit him hard at least...

When his son worked as an investment banker in London? Unlikely!

He was clever enough to leave a half mil in there (which after all, is just small change to a man reputedly worth between 10 and 40 Bil).

This way the Swiss look good, the US looks good, the poor huddled masses think they got him in the end, and every one's happy...

sick and tired of seeing your ridiculous anti-US agenda making its way into every post you create. what does the US have anything to do with Mubarak's Swiss assets being frozen by Switzerland? Right, nothing.

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Re: Switzerland moves to sieze Hosni Mubarak's assets
You might supply a bit of evidence about your figures, as a start


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The Swiss government clearly stated that it is not sure whether he "stashed" any money in Switzerland, but the banks were ordered to check all their records. There is no real information available about whether he really did stash any money abroad and if so where. Most wealthy people in Egypt have accounts abroad, among other reasons in order to be able to conduct payments to suppliers and to get payments from customers (without getting permissions from the Finance Ministry).

Many state leaders in fact invest private money in shares of West European and US-American companies


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"Mubarak's Swiss assets" ? It is not yet sure whether there are any such assets in Switzerland (according to Finance Minister Widmer-Schlumpf), but there may be such assets and the banks are checking things up accordingly


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Just stick him on ignore and move on.

Lol why do you guys think he was stalling at the end?? There was never going to be any other outcome than him stepping down.

When I first heard about him stalling my first thoughts right away were that he needs a few days to sort out his assets and anything else he might have hidden away. Mubarak is known to be an astute business man.

If there was really billions being moved in swiss banks, Im sure such figures dont go unnoticed by the banks, even in anonymous transactions. The swiss banks (even the banks that didnt have his money) would be fully aware of his monetary movements.

I think it could be just the CHian way of saying: "Don´t worry Mr. Mubarak you money is safe and nobody can get hold of it, when the kerfuffle has died down let´s talk.

no way! it's an enjoyable diversion from work to have these mini battles all over the forum.

What i know is that Mubarak made a high level arragements specially with the UK in the past period to secure him, his family and his assets.

Though, we still have evidence of what names these names / companies the assets are under in RBS, UBS, CS, Barclays and working on it at the moment with the law enforcements and GP in Egypt

It'd be simpler to agree I have an anti-US agenda and you just ignore me from here on, but let me try and explain this once ... in simple English.

Mubarak was the US's man on the ground; they paid him ($1.3 Bn a year to be exact) to keep the smaller Arab states in line, to safeguard the Suez, and most important - to keep the peace with Israel. He was beholden to them, and obliged to hold himself to a reasonable standard of behavior in terms of human rights, freedom of speech etc, so that his paymasters could not be accused of harboring a villain.

Now after he has been discredited, if he was seen to be openly making off with his ill-gotten billions, his mentor and paymaster would look bad. At the same time, stripping him of everything would be counterproductive - he has, after all served them well for 30 years. And you don't really want him to sing like a canary, do you? So you give him a few weeks to .. ahem ..put his affairs in order, then give him a symbolic slap on the wrist (hello Switzerland?) and everybody looks good.

Sounds like common sense to me....

While on one hand, there is certainly something more than a little "unsavory" about the thought of the leader of one country being "in the pocket" of another country - particularly as it seems it's gone on for so long.


On the other hand, I can not see what is wrong with ensuring there is a reason (whether $$ or other) to safeguard an area which is utilized by more than the countries in question and to maintain a fairly peaceable relationship with an otherwise conflicting "faction" in the area.

Finding - and using - someone's main motivator as a means to maintain an acceptable standard of behavior is not so bad either.


I'm not saying the situation was perfect - I didn't live there, I don't know how far from perfect it was for the average man (or woman). What I think though is that "thanks" to whatever motivators Mubarak had for sticking to an "acceptable standard of behavior" which allowed a relatively free relationship between Egypt and "The West" the folks in Egypt sure seem to have a freer lifestyle than many of the other folks in that general area of the world.

Things could have been far worse there than they were for the past 30 years.

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The Joys of Opticianry

Question:

What happens when Switzerland freezes a despot's assets? Can we use it for our gemeinde? I'd like some high-tech equipment for the Turnhalle.

absolutely. if the despot hailed from your gemeinde...

else, the money is held to be reclaimed by the subsequent rightful govt of said country.

The man as president during 30 years got a yearly salary of maybe 1 mio Euro, and this means 30 mio Euro in total just net-net. His son is an investment banker, so of course multipled the fortune. BUT what I fail to understand is why some people believe that Mr Mubarak had cash-money accounts somewhere ! If he had "money" in Switzerland it may be shares of ASEA, Nestle, CS, Novartis, Kuoni, etc !

You mention the 1.3 bio US$ but that was what Egypt officially got from the USA. It does not mean that Mr Mubarak got 1.3 bio.

He of course as president had an income of maybe 1 mio US$ but those rumours about "billions" is out of the stories of 1001 nights

And yes, his predecessors will in reality have a hard time to beat his performance in regard to progress, his performance in regard to economy, infrastructure, education, healthcare

And it has to be realized that Mubarak took over a 40 mio people nation 30 years ago and now leaves a country of 80 mio people. The average income per person has grown, the education per person has improved, healthcare has been improved, infrastructure has been heavily extended, so that the man must have done something

investment banker or robber? The Mubarak family was a mafia family taking its cut from every transaction in the country. Interesting is the report on the tough discussion between the Mubarak sons.