Swiss Send Experts to Cairo to Aid in Return of Frozen Assets

Switzerland sent a group of experts to Cairo to help Egyptian authorities secure the return of funds amassed by former President Hosni Mubarak and his associates.

The experts are helping Egyptian judicial officials determine whether any of the 410 million Swiss francs ($465 million) of funds frozen in Swiss banks were obtained illegally, the Foreign Ministry in Bern said today in an e-mailed statement.

On Feb. 11, the Swiss government froze all Mubarak money held in the country to prevent the funds from being spirited away and hidden. It imposed a similar freeze on any holdings of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi shortly afterward. The Swiss experts held talks today and yesterday focusing on the technical aspects of judicial cooperation between the two countries, the ministry said.

“Switzerland hopes to be able to quickly return to the Egyptian people all frozen assets” proved to be illegal, the ministry said. “It is now up to the Egyptian authorities to determine, through criminal proceedings, whether these assets were illegally acquired.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Verschuur at pverschuur@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Angela Cullen at acullen8@bloomberg.net