Toppled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak
In a short recorded exclusive speech to Al-Arabia TV, Egyptian ex-president Hosni Mubarak broke his silence by claiming that he and his family members have had been wrongly accused of illegal profiteering.
“I have been suffering great pain as a result of the false accusations my family and I have faced,” Mubarak said in his usual confident tone. “There is a smear campaign aiming to tarnish my reputation, dignity and my military and political history.”
“I opted to step down as president, putting the best interest of my nation and its people above all, and chose to move away from political life.”
“However, I spent a lifetime serving my nation in an honest manner and I cannot remain silent amid such smear campaigns and attempts to destroy my reputation and that of my family.”
“I have waited over the past weeks for the truth to be revealed to the prosecutor general from all countries around the world: that I do not possess any financial assets or real estate abroad.”
“In order to quash the wrong allegations, I hereby announce that I welcome any petition from the prosecutor general to authorise the foreign ministry to contact all foreign ministries around the world to check if we have opened any bank accounts since my time in the military and during political lines of work.”
“The sources of the assets and accounts of my sons Alaa and Gamal are all legitimate and beyond legal doubts or abuse of political power.”
“After all the parties finish their investigations and confirm what I’ve been saying, I will exercise my legal right to reply to all those who tried to bring me, my reputation and that of my family down, whether here or abroad.”
Mubarak was toppled on 11 February, following the 25 January Revolution, which lasted for 18 days.
Many figures of the toppled regime have been put on trial, including Safwat El-Sherif, minister of information for 22 years and chairman of the Upper House for seven; Fathi Sorour, the parliament speaker for 20 years; and Zakaria Azmi, the president's chief of staff for 22 years.
Mubarak, whose speech on Al-Arabia TV was his first media statement since his overthrow, has been under house arrest - along with his family - in the coastal resort of Sharm El-Sheik pending an investigation.
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