Just How Rich is Hosni Mubarak?

By Syed Aslam, TMO

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak rubs his eyes during a joint press conference with French President Jacques Chirac after their meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris in this March 5, 2004 file photo. Egypt’s ousted president has given up and wants to die in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where he has been living since a popular uprising ended his rule, a Saudi official said on February 16, 2011. Mubarak, 82, has suffered from health problems in recent years and travelled to Germany for gall bladder surgery in March last year. Reports of a further decline have increased since he stepped down on Friday after three decades in power.      REUTERS/John Schults

While 20 million Egyptian live under  2 dollars a day, Hosni Mubark and his two sons are worth close to 70 billion dollars, says Tom Foreman of CNN news.  According to Egyptian law the president’s salary is fixed and he is not supposed have any income from outside. This is reason why Gamal Abdel Nasser the most beloved Egyptian had lived and died a simple man. But this dictator has stolen money from Egyptian economy at the rate of 2.4 billion dollars a year. The GDP of Egypt is 470 billion dollars, so Hosni Mubark has robed 16 % Egypt’s GDP. Just think if an American president stole 16 % of America’s GDP it will be about 2.3 trillion  dollars. The sources estimated that he made money  from commissions on arms deals and questionable real estate deals in Cairo and the tourism investment zones. It is a common practice in Middle East that foreigners are required  give a local business partner a 50% stake in start-up ventures with no or very little  initial investment for local partner.  Hosni Mubarak and his family used this practice  to amass huge amount of money . A long list of businesses  are listed on Internet which are owned by Hosni   Mubarak and his family this way.  His wealth and properties are hidden mostly in Europe and USA besides Egypt.  While millions of Egyptian live in mud huts,  Mubarak lived in Egypt’s sprawling Abdeen Palace, which is one of the most sumptuous palaces in the world in terms of its adornments and paintings   scattered in the parlors,  most of which  are decorated with pure gold all paid by the Egyptian treasury. His son, Jamal Mubarak,  who was  Secretary-General of the ruling National Democratic Party  has its own wealth  estimated at 17 billion dollars spread over several banking institutions in Switzerland, Germany, United States and Britain.

These greedy people should be tried in the international court for robing their people and their wealth should be confiscated and send back to their respective country. As a matter of fact after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, the Swiss government has declared that his money in Swiss banks will be frozen. I hope other countries do the same.   

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