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Mubarak family fortune could reach $70bn, say experts
Egyptian president has cash in British and Swiss banks plus UK and US property
Gamal and Hosni Mubarak Gamal and Hosni Mubarak are reported to have built up
huge fortunes, including properties in London. Photograph: Cris
Bouroncle/AFP/Getty Images
President Hosni Mubarak's family fortune could be as much as $70bn (£43.5bn)
according to analysis by Middle East experts, with much of his wealth in
British and Swiss banks or tied up in real estate in London, New York, Los
Angeles and along expensive tracts of the Red Sea coast.
After 30 years as president and many more as a senior military official,
Mubarak has had access to investment deals that have generated hundreds of
millions of pounds in profits. Most of those gains have been taken offshore and
deposited in secret bank accounts or invested in upmarket homes and hotels.
According to a report last year in the Arabic newspaper Al Khabar, Mubarak has
properties in Manhattan and exclusive Beverly Hills addresses on Rodeo Drive.
His sons, Gamal and Alaa, are also billionaires. A protest outside Gamal's
ostentatious home at 28 Wilton Place in Belgravia, central London, highlighted
the family's appetite for western trophy assets.
Amaney Jamal, a political science professor at Princeton University, said the
estimate of $40bn-70bn was comparable with the vast wealth of leaders in other
Gulf countries.
"The business ventures from his military and government service accumulated to
his personal wealth," she told ABC news. "There was a lot of corruption in this
regime and stifling of public resources for personal gain.
"This is the pattern of other Middle Eastern dictators so their wealth will not
be taken during a transition. These leaders plan on this."
Al Khabar said it understood the Mubaraks kept much of their wealth offshore in
the Swiss bank UBS and the Bank of Scotland, part of Lloyds Banking Group,
although this information could be at least 10 years old.
There are only sketchy details of exactly where the Mubaraks have generated
their wealth and its final destination.
Christopher Davidson, professor of Middle East politics at Durham University,
said Mubarak, his wife, Suzanne, and two sons were able to accumulate wealth
through a number of business partnerships with foreign investors and companies,
dating back to when he was in the military and in a position to benefit from
corporate corruption.
He said most Gulf states required foreigners give a local business partner a
51% stake in start-up ventures. In Egypt, the figure is commonly nearer 20%,
but still gives politicians and close allies in the military a source of huge
profits with no initial outlay and little risk.
"Almost every project needs a sponsor and Mubarak was well-placed to take
advantage of any deals on offer," he said.
"Much of his money is in Swiss bank accounts and London property. These are the
favourites of Middle Eastern leaders and there is no reason to think Mubarak is
any different. Gamal's Wilton Place home is likely to be the tip of the
iceberg."
Al Khabar named a series of major western companies that, partnered with the
Mubarak family, generated an estimated $15m a year in profits.
Aladdin Elaasar, author of The Last Pharaoh: Mubarak and the Uncertain Future
of Egypt in the Obama Age, said the Mubaraks own several residences in Egypt,
some inherited from previous presidents and the monarchy, and others the
president has commissioned.
Hotels and land around the Sharm el-Sheikh tourist resort are also a source of
Mubarak family wealth.
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Mubarak family fortune could reach $70bn, say experts
This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 17.58 GMT on Friday 4 February
2011. It was last modified at 00.04 GMT on Saturday 5 February 2011.
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