Egyptian authorities are stepping up efforts to extradite two ex-ministers and a business tycoon who fled the country during the eventful days of the 25 January Revolution, Gamal Essam El-Din reports Hussein Salem, a business associate of ousted former president Hosni Mubarak, was arrested in Spain on 16 June, one of three former regime loyalists who fled the country during the 25 January Revolution and are now the object of extradition requests by the new Egyptian government. The other two men, Youssef Boutros Ghali, a former minister of finance, and Rachid Mohamed Rachid, a former minister of trade and industry, were once particularly close to Gamal Mubarak, the ousted president's younger son, who was widely believed to be being groomed to inherit power from his father and become the next president of Egypt. Salem was charged with fraud and profiteering last month along with Mubarak himself and his two sons, elder son Alaa and Gamal, whose trial is scheduled to start on 3 August. Salem, 77, is accused of having made illegal profits of some $714 million out of deals to sell Egyptian natural gas to Israel. Salem is reported to have left Egypt on 3 February, eight days before Mubarak himself was forced to step down as president by pro- democracy protesters. Prosecutors say that Salem exploited his business partnership with Mubarak in order to gain a monopoly on exporting Egyptian natural gas to Israel at cheap prices in exchange for hefty commissions for the ex- president and his two sons. Salem built a luxurious beachfront palace and four villas in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh for the Mubaraks, and prosecutors say that in addition to profiting from the gas sales and making large cash payments to the Mubaraks, Salem also acquired large plots of land in the Sinai Peninsula. Salem is the chairman and CEO of HKS Group, a hotel chain that owns the Maritime Jolie Ville Resort in Sharm El-Sheikh. Acting in partnership with Youssi Maiman, a former Israeli Mossad officer, Salem set up the East Mediterranean Gas Company in 2000, controlling almost half the shares. In 2005, prosecutors say, the company signed a deal with the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum, allowing it to buy Egyptian natural gas at below market prices and then resell it to Israel at a substantial mark-up. Former minister of petroleum Sameh Fahmi is currently being tried on charges of implementing orders received from former president Mubarak that would help Salem to gain monopoly of the natural gas export market. Salem, a former intelligence officer, is believed to have befriended Mubarak in 1975, with foreign media reports claiming that Mounir Thabet, Mubarak's brother-in-law and former chairman of the Egyptian weapons procurement authority, introduced the two men to each other. All three men, together with others including former defence minister Field Marshal Mohamed Abdel-Halim Abu Ghazala, were involved in an American-Egyptian company that monopolised arrangements for US military assistance to Egypt after the signature of the peace treaty with Israel in 1979. In his book The Veil, US journalist Bob Woodward claims that Mubarak helped Salem to form a partnership with former CIA officers in order to take control of transporting US weapons to Egypt. In return, Woodward wrote, Mubarak and late Egyptian president Anwar El-Sadat received millions of dollars in commissions. Minister of Justice Mohamed Abdel-Aziz El-Guindi has indicated that military prosecution authorities will take charge of investigating Mubarak's alleged profiteering from US military assistance, "because this is an issue rife with military secrets." Many political analysts believe that the eventual trial of Salem will be a key development in revealing the secrets of Mubarak's wealth and clandestine business deals. However, Salem's arrest in Spain, together with that of his son Khaled, also a businessman, does not necessarily mean that he will be extradited to Egypt anytime soon. On 17 June, a Spanish court set a record bail for Salem's release pending investigation of the charges against him. Following two court appearances last Friday, one in connection with a warrant issued in Egypt and the other on suspicion of money laundering in Spain, bail was set at 27 million euros ($39 million), 12 million euros in the Spanish case and 15 million euros in the Egyptian extradition. Spanish authorities also froze more than 32.5 million euros in cash, seizing property worth 10 million euros and five luxury cars. According to statements from the Spanish authorities, the money could have been obtained illegally in Egypt and sent to bank accounts in Spain held by Salem through a series of companies created by a front-man, identified as Turkish citizen Ali Evsen. After his court appearances, Salem was reportedly treated in hospital for neurological problems, with a physician telling the Associated Press that while he was not in good health, his health problems were not life-threatening. The Egyptian authorities, made up of the prosecution-general and the Foreign Ministry, will now be hoping that the fact that Salem holds dual Egyptian-Spanish nationality will assist in requests for his extradition. Spanish law forbids Spanish citizens from holding dual nationality, and a diplomatic source said on Monday that "we are doing our best to convince the Spanish authorities that Salem still holds Egyptian nationality in violation of Spanish laws." Salem's arrest is the latest development in the round of diplomatic and judicial efforts aimed at extraditing former Egyptian officials to face trial in Egypt, among them Ghali and Rachid. Ghali, 58, and his wife, narrowly avoided a travel ban by fleeing the country on the morning of Mubarak's resignation on 11 February, having obtained personal permission from Mubarak himself to travel outside Egypt. The couple are believed to have gone first to Lebanon and they are now in London. The British daily Independent newspaper said on Sunday that Ghali was living openly in London despite his having been convicted of corruption and profiteering in his home country. The paper said that Ghali had been seen several times in London and that shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter had asked British Foreign Secretary William Hague why Ghali had been given leave to remain, when the Egyptian judiciary wanted him to be returned to Egypt. Ghali is believed to be one of dozens of former Egyptian officials and businessmen living in London who are wanted by the Egyptian authorities. Slaughter said he had been contacted by expatriate Egyptians living in his constituency who were furious that Ghali had been seen "wandering around London with impunity." Egyptian Interpol representative Magdi Shafei told local journalists that Ghali had been "followed since he fled Egypt after the January Revolution". According to Shafei, the UK is considered to be a "safe place" for fugitives from justice due to the country's lack of an extradition agreement with Egypt. Ghali was sentenced on 5 July to 30 years in prison and fined LE70 million for "squandering and abusing public funds". He was also convicted of having given away 69 of the 102 luxury cars allocated to the Finance Ministry, keeping six for his own personal use. Ghali still awaits prosecution on two further charges, the first of which is that he allegedly awarded a significant contract to a German company to supply Egyptian car- licence plates without putting the matter up for tender, as required by law. It is alleged that this cost the state LE90 million in additional costs. Along with former information minister Anas El-Fiqi, Ghali is also accused of having used public money to fund his campaign during the 2010 parliamentary elections, going so far as to move ministry equipment to his campaign headquarters. Rachid, also a close associate of Gamal Mubarak, was referred for trial by the Illicit Gains Office (IGO) on 30 May on charges of profiteering from his former position to the tune of LE9 million. The court is set to issue its judgement in the case in absentia if Rachid, who left the country before being issued with a travel ban, fails to attend the hearing scheduled for Saturday 25 June. Rachid, 58, was among the first of the officials of the former Mubarak regime to flee the country during the 25 January Revolution, leaving Egypt on 30 January for the Gulf emirate of Dubai. Rachid told the Al-Arabiya television channel that he had received personal permission from the then chief of General Intelligence, former vice president Omar Suleiman, to leave the country. Rachid is accused of having profited from his position as minister of trade and industry and chair of the Export Development Fund between 4 August 2004 and 6 January 2011 to channel money from the fund into companies in which he owns shares. Following his fleeing the country on 30 January, Rachid's assets were frozen, and neither he nor his wife can now access their Egyptian bank accounts. Rachid told the Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya channel that he could not return to Egypt "because the trials being held of ex-officials are not fair and are being conducted in an atmosphere of media and public hostility against officials close to Mubarak and his son Gamal." Egyptian officials at Interpol said on 17 June that arrest warrants for seven former Egyptian officials had been issued on charges of financial corruption, these being on a list of some 400 suspects who fled abroad following the 25 January Revolution.
