The committee tasked with retrieving funds stolen by figures from the former Mubarak regime will be restructured, announced Prime Minister Hesham Qandil on Thursday.
The decision came during a meeting with committee members as well as the ministers of finance, justice, parliamentary and legal affairs, planning and international cooperation. Also present were the secretary general of the Cabinet and Assem al-Gohary, the assistant minister of justice for the Illicit Gains Authority.
The Cabinet decided to add new members to the committee that would represent the banking, political and popular sectors, according to today’s statement.
Qandil claimed that the government is eager to retrieve the embezzled funds and is working hard to do so.
To date, however, Egypt has not been successful in recovering any of the stolen funds.
Gohary told Al-Masry Al-Youm in May that “we have only managed to locate an estimated CHF410 million (LE 1 billion) held in Swiss banks that was embezzled by 17 former officials, including former President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons."
He claimed that the government is aware of more funds owned by former officials currently held in other countries, but said that the authority has not yet ascertained their value or proprietors.
Edited translation from MENA
