Since 2011, the federal prosecutor’s office had been investigating allegations of money laundering against the family and those close to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the wake of the Arab Spring. The case will now be closed and the money refunded.
Hosni Mubarak (on the poster) ruled Egypt for many years.
After eleven years, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (BA) is dropping the criminal proceedings relating to the confiscated funds from those close to the late Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Around 400 million francs will be released, as the BA announced on Wednesday. The lion’s share goes to Mubarak’s two sons.
The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office justified the cessation with the fact that the criminal proceedings for money laundering and support for a criminal organization had not resulted in any substantiated suspicion. This means that there is no basis for charges to be brought or for the funds that have been blocked since 2011 to be confiscated.
The complex and extensive criminal proceedings originally involved 14 suspects, including the two sons of the deposed President, as well as 28 natural persons and 45 legal entities whose assets were also blocked as third parties. According to the BA, around 140 relevant banking relationships were also analyzed in this context.
The individuals, most of whom held high official or economic positions in Egypt, were suspected of having laundered criminal-origin funds in Switzerland resulting from financial transactions related to corruption-related offences. In this context, several criminal proceedings were initiated in Egypt and requests for legal assistance were sent to Switzerland.