Egypt: Suzanne Mubarak to Hand Over Assets to State

Former President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.
17 May 2011

Egyptian officials have reportedly stated that the wife of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has agreed to turn over assets to the state. A villa in Cairo along with some $3 million in Egyptian bank accounts are expected to be seized, according to the BBC.

In addition to allegations of his family illegally acquiring wealth during his 30 years in power, Hosni Mubarak has been implicated in the deaths of anti-regime protesters before being ousted in February.

Mrs Mubarak, 70, reportedly agreed to hand over both the money and the villa. She gains the benefit of having the investigation dropped, as stipulated under Egyptian law. Egyptian layer, Nassir Amin, was quoted as telling the Associated Press that "the decision may not be accepted by society, who after a revolution, side with the idea of revenge. But from the legal point of view, this is in line".

Suzanne Mubarak suffered either a heart attack or a panic attack after being told she would be taken into custody. She is currently recuperating in the hospital of the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where she and the rest of her family have been detained, the BBC reports.

Hosni Mubarak, 83, has denied claims that his family has accumulated tens of billions of dollars while in power. Little hard evidence has been made public to support these allegations. Nevertheless, the family's bank accounts in Cairo and Switzerland have been frozen. The BBC reports that rumours of Suzanne Mubarak's intention to have her eldest son Gamal succeed his father was a grievance that mobilised many Egyptians against the former president.

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