Gamal Mubarak’s video: Myth and Reality

 Gamal Mubarak’s video is still making people in Egypt wondering what he wants.

For days now after its release it is still among the top trending topics in Egypt especially that many young Egyptians found it a good material for memes in addition it comes in time of an economic crisis as well as political desert literality in the country

Egyptians have not forgotten the Mubarak legacy which we still suffer from its repercussions.

Gamal Mubarak as appeared in his video. In the back , the photo of his father
former president Mubarak with his son Omar 

Now for the sake of truth and reality as well as young generations who consider the Mubaraks as victims of defamation campaigns or are simply amazed by Gamal Mubarak’s fluency in English, there are certain points I must clarify here as I worked on their cases and that file of their assets abroad for the past decade.

The General Court of European Court has not acquitted the Mubaraks of corruption charges or dealt with the corruption charges or dealt with the accusations or court sentences back in Cairo.

 Its decision to unfreeze the assets across Europe was taken due to two things: inconsistent procedures in Europe itself and the fact that the Egyptian authority did not cooperate with the European authorities since March 2011 and present evidence that would help substantiate charges against the Mubarak family.

Yes, the Egyptian authorities did not work to restore those assets abroad despite there was a couple of committees formed to restore them in the past decade. We only read about those committees in the newspapers, but we have not heard or read any practical step to restore back those assets or even investigate them.

Gamal Mubarak wearing some top European sweater jacket 
during his detention while attending his trial in 2012

There were no charges against the Mubaraks in Europe technically speaking so Gamal Mubarak would come and speak about clearing their names.

I do not know but Gamal Mubarak’s video statement is a clear attack against the Egyptian Judiciary and its independence. He is hinting about bias in the Egyptian judiciary system. Egyptians saw how the Mubaraks were treated in the Egyptian courts, and I guess they will say if they are victims of biased system or not.

The Mubaraks in front of Egyptian courts: A history

Here is a quick brief history of the Mubaraks in front of the Egyptian courts.

In March 2011, European Union member-countries imposed sanctions on Mubarak and his family based on the lawsuit filed against them in Egypt for embezzlement of state funds.

In April 2011 , Alaa and Gamal Mubarak were arrested by Egyptian authorities pending investigations into charges of corruption and the killing of protesters.

On 17 May 2011, Suzanne Mubarak was released by the Prosecution after reaching a deal to give the state her bank assets and properties which were equal to LE 24 million then.

It is worth to mention that there has been no serious investigation in the allegations in Egyptian press that the Geneva-based-Suzanne Mubarak International Movement of Women for Peace which was founded in 2002 and headed by the former first lady was used as a cover to smuggle the Mubaraks assets abroad. (For archival proposes: Here are an-2011-Youm 7 report and an-ARIJ report in Arabic about the NGO which was completely forgotten like many other things)

In August 2011, the trial of Mubarak and his sons as well as bunch of his officials kicked off in Cairo and the Egyptian media dubbed it "the trial of the century." Mubarak was accused of ordering the killing of protesters during the 25 January revolution. The ousted president and his sons denied all the charges against them during trial.

Mubarak as he was transferred to court from the military hospital he
was staying at "AFP" 

On  2 June 2012 , The Criminal court sentenced Hosni Mubarak to life in prison for the killing of the protesters. 

In June 2012 too, the Criminal court dropped the case commonly known “the Sharm El-Sheikh villas” against Alaa and Gamal Mubarak and Hussein due to the statute of limitation, not because they are innocent. A remainder of this case: The two Mubaraks were accused of illegally accepting gifts of five villas as well as two million metres of land in Sharm El-Sheikh from businessman Hussein Salem

On 14 June 2013, the Public Money Prosecution agreed to reconcile with Hosni and Susan Mubarak as well as Gamal Mubarak in the case commonly known as the “The Ministry of information’s gift” after the Mubaraks requested to reconcile and to repay to the state LE 4.3 million.

On 21 August 2013, a Cairo misdemeanor court ordered the release of Hosni Mubarak from his detention at Tora prison “or rather the hospital where he was receiving very good treatment” in the case known as the “Al-Ahram Cooperation gifts” after repaying the value of those gifts to the state.  The Mubaraks repaid LE 20 million.

The Mubaraks during their trials 

It was unclear how the Mubaraks were able to repay the state during then when all their assets were frozen in Egypt by the state and in European countries by the EU.

Repaying the state means that you took something that it is not yours and you know it is not your right and return it back for your freedom or in other words “it is a deal”

Hosni Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal are already officially convicted of corruption charges by a Criminal Court in the trial commonly known in the media as “The presidential palace corruption case” in May 2015. Hosni Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal were sentenced to three years in prison and to pay a fine a total of LE 125 million.

They were also required to pay an additional LE 21 million to the state.

The Criminal Court upheld the sentence in a historical verdict on 14 January 2016. The Mubaraks did not serve their time in prison because they already served it during their pre-trial detention according to what was said then. 

To refresh your memory, I advise you to read again Hossam Bahgat’s “Mubarak Mansion” investigative report at Mada Misr.

On 3 March 2017 , the Court of Cassation acquitted Mubarak of the killing of protesters during the 25 January revolution. 

The Mubaraks in court after their acquittal "Reuters"

On 22 February 2020, Alaa and Gamal Mubarak were acquitted in the trial commonly known in the media as “manipulation of the stock market”

I do not need to speak about the treatment the Mubaraks received in their detention, but it is well recorded, and the photos are enough.

The Mubaraks in the Suisse Secrets

This part is dealing with the with the latest Suisse Secrets financial leaks which were overshadowed by the Russian invasion to Ukraine. The Mubarak brothers as usual and as expected were there.  

The Suisse leaks are huge investigative report project led by Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project “OCCRP” where more than 163 journalists from 48 media outlets in 39 countries across the world spent months analyzing bank account information leaked from Switzerland’s Credit Suisse Bank.

Award-winning Egyptian investigative journalist Mohamed Abu El-Ghait participated in that project which battling cancer amazingly. “I pray for him that he wins the battle inshallah”.

Before going to the Mubarak brothers, you must know that those leaks included more than 18,000 accounts that held in excess of US$100 billion at their peaks at Credit Suisse Bank. 

You must also know that those are the secret bank accounts and amazingly Egypt tops the number of the accounts in this leak with more than 2,000 bank accounts alone along with Venezuela. The economic crisis is not from nothing!!

From the Guardian 

According to the leaks Alaa and Gamal Mubarak had a total of 6 secret bank accounts in Credit Suisse including two personal accounts that were closed. The first bank account they had was in year 1987. Gamal Mubarak started working Bank of America in 1980 and Alaa Mubarak was only 26 years old !!

By the way people forget that Credit Suisse managed Alaa Mubarak’s offshore “PanWorld Investment INC” from 1993 till 2005 according to the Panama Papers.  

Their lawyers told OCCRP that neither Swiss nor Egyptian investigations have found any evidence of suspicious activity in their Swiss assets.

Now I wish Gamal and Alaa Mubarak share with us as Egyptians how they were as young Egyptian men able to open secret bank accounts in one of the world most important banks in their youth so other young Egyptian men can benefit!?

Why did Gamal and Alaa Mubarak open secret banks in the first place !? Why were they secret!? Also why did not they open those bank accounts in the Egyptian banks to boost our banking system with their investments?

Why did not they trust our banks!? Were they concerned about the taxes!? Did not they trust their father’s own banking and financial policies and preferred the Swiss and European policies!?

Also why did they have to open to six accounts !? instead of two!? Also why did Alaa Mubarak have a shell company in Panama managed by Credit Suisse according to the Panama leaks!?

In the end, I do not care if Gamal Mubarak wants to return to politics or continue his business doing whatever he wants along with his brother, but I fed up with those who think that we do not read or understand in this age.

We are living in 2022, not in 1962 for the love of God!!