Mohamed ElBaradei on Friday refused the finance minister's recent suggestion that the government may consider financial reconciliation with former members of the Hosni Mubarak regime accused in corruption cases.
Finance Minister Momtaz al-Saeed said Tuesday that some Mubarak regime officials currently detained in Tora Prison have offered to relinquish part of their wealth in return for the government dropping corruption lawsuits filed against them. At a press conference after meeting with the committee tasked with repatriating public funds siphoned abroad, Saeed said the government is studying the offers, but declined to mention the officials' names.
“Talk about reconciliation with leaders of the former [Mubarak] regime in crimes of financial corruption, and not trying them on political corruption [charges], continues attempts to abort the revolution,” the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency wrote on his Twitter account.
He also wrote: “To my sisters and brothers who spurred the revolution: The revolution will succeed with you and by you.”
Presidential hopeful and former intelligence officer Mamdouh Qutb also rejected the proposal in a Thursday press conference, saying, “Egypt cannot be compromised for money, and all state institutions should work to get back the government funds smuggled abroad.”
Last March, state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram reported that prominent accused businessmen, including Ahmed Ezz, an oligarch with a near-monopoly on steel, Mounir Ghabbour, Hesham al-Hathek, Hussein Sajwani and Mohamed Abul Enein had all offered to make financial reparations totaling some LE2.4 billion in return for their charges being dropped.
That same month, then-Justice Minister Mohamed Abdel Aziz al-Guindi said the government was preparing legislation to reach financial settlements with businessmen implicated in corruption cases.
