The UK and Egypt are discussing new legal ways of cooperation on stolen Egyptian assets during Mubarak regime era, a UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) source told Ahram Online, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Since the UK started to freeze Egyptian assets in early 2011, Egyptian authorities have complained of “a lack of British cooperation and sharing intelligence.”
Based on an EU regulation issued 22 March 2011, UK froze about £85 million worth of Egyptian assets, reportedly owned by some 19 Egyptian former regime figures, including Hosni Mubarak, his family members, and former prominent ministers and businessmen.
In spite of an amendment of the regulation to force EU member states to share more information with Arab Spring countries about stolen assets, the UK insists that for reasons of confidentiality they are unable to disclose information relating to individual assets frozen in the UK.
The two countries, however, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in recent months to facilitate cooperation.
No details of the MoU have been made available.
However, a FCO spokesman told Ahram Online that the MoU “formalises our cooperation with Egypt on asset recovery in order to facilitate the sharing of information in both directions."
He added that the MoU, signed by the Egyptian Ministry of Justice and the UK Asset Recovery Taskforce, is “a sign of the commitment both countries have made to this agenda.”
The UK says it remains “fully engaged in its efforts to return stolen assets to the Egyptian people,” adding that their authorities have already shared a significant amount of intelligence with Egypt ”on investigations into illegal activity and money laundering.”
Charges against Mubarak on responsibility for killing protesters in 2011 were dropped by an Egyptian court last Saturday.
Mubarak is serving a three-year jail term on corruption charges. He was acquitted of two other corruption charges, also last Saturday.
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