Egypt has detained the former first lady, Suzanne Mubarak and has ordered that she remain in custody for 15 days while authorities investigate her involvement in the illegal acquisition of wealth.
“The head of the Illicit Gains Authority, Assem al-Gohari, has ordered the 15 day detention of Suzanne Thabet pending investigation,” said a statement carried by official MENA news agency on Friday, May 13, Agence-France Presse reported. According to the statement, Suzanne is facing “accusations she abused her position for the illegal acquisition of wealth.” According to MENA, she will be held in a women-only prison in Cairo, Egypt.
Suzanne, 70, and her husband, longtime former leader of Egypt Hosni Mubarak, have been questioned by authorities over changes of illegal accumulation of wealth.” According to local news reports, Suzanne is accused of transferring funds allocated to the Alexandria Library and a long-running nationwide reading campaign into her own bank accounts. Officials are also investigating alleged gold gifts that were supposed to be delivered by the ex-minister of information, Anas El-Fiqi, who is also being detained on corruption charges, to the ex-first lady.
Mubarek was forced out of office after a popular uprising in Egypt demanded his departure. He is currently under detention in a hospital in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he has lived since his resignation. The illicit gains authority ordered that Mubarak be detained for another 15 days pending a probe into corruption charges.
“During its investigation, the agency confronted Mubarak with reports from comptrollers regarding unlawful gains not commensurate with his legitimate income during his career,” MENA quoted as saying Assem el-Gohari, a senior justice ministry official, Reuters reported. Investigators interrogated Mubarak, who has denied wrongdoing, for more than three hours Thursday evening. The public prosecutor last month ordered Mubarak to be transferred to a Cairo prison hospital but said it would take at least a month to make the necessary preparations.
MENA also said the former president and his wife had signed documents in Arabic, English and French agreeing to reveal information about their domestic and foreign bank accounts. Some media reports have suggested the Mubarak family’s wealth may total billions of dollars.
On The Web
- Mubarak wife in ICU after heart attack: TV (alternet.org)
- Mubarak Detained In Wealth Probe (matthewzavoras.wordpress.com)
- Egypt graft agency rules to detain Mubarak, wife (theglobeandmail.com)
