Spanish authorities have agreed to extradite business tycoon , reports Mohamed Abdel-Baky More than a year after Egypt submitted a formal request, the Supreme Court in Madrid has approved the extradition of Egyptian , a Mubarak-era business tycoon, his son Khaled and daughter Magda to Egypt. The Supreme Court upheld a ruling issued by another Spanish court in March to extradite Salem, 79, and his children to stand a retrial over charges of money laundering, seizing state lands and exporting natural gas to Israel at below market prices. Following the court's decision, Egypt's Deputy Minister of Justice for Illicit Gains Authority (IGA), Essam El-Gohari, said that the decision to deport Salem was irrevocable and that within the next few weeks authorities in the two countries will be arranging for his deportation. Some media reports predicted that Salem might be deported early in June. To execute the court ruling, the Spanish government made it conditional that the Egyptian prosecutor must submit a written commitment that Salem will face a re-trial from scratch, and that he would not be executed. The office of Egypt's prosecutor-general confirmed that he had already submitted the paperwork to the Spanish government, which included the written pledge. Egypt had requested Spain to extradite Salem's family to face trial in June 2011. Salem reportedly fled Egypt on a private jet to Switzerland in January 2011 at the start of last year's 18-day uprising, Last week in his first television appearance in Madrid, Salem told Al-Qahera Al-Youm (Cairo Today), a talk show hosted by Amr Adib, that he did not escape from Egypt during the revolution. "I went to see my doctor in Switzerland on 29 January last year but I went to Spain afterwards because of Egypt's popular protests after the Spanish government sent an e-mail alerting me of the demonstrations," Salem told Adib. Salem was put under house arrest in Spain in June 2011 following an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol. However, Spanish authorities released Salem the same month after he posted 27 million euros in bail. Spain had previously frozen $45 million of his assets in the country. "I did not have the bail money because my assets were frozen. One of my Spanish friends paid for me but the bail was reduced to around one million euros," Salem told Adib. The business tycoon who allegedly enjoyed close ties with the ousted Mubarak regime faces multiple charges of corruption and money laundering in Egypt and Spain. Salem has dual Spanish/Egyptian nationality. His son and daughter, who were arrested in Spain last summer, are also accused of laundering some two billion euros. In March 2012, Salem was found guilty of illegally acquiring public property and was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison by a Giza criminal court. Among the charges against Mubarak was receiving bribes from Salem in the form of four villas in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. "The villas were not for free. I sold them to the Mubaraks for LE2 million while they cost me LE900,000," Salem told Adib in the interview. "Regardless of anything else, I am a businessman and I made a 103 per cent profit from the deal." Salem is chairman and CEO of HKS Group, a hotel chain that owns the Maritime Jolie Ville Resort in Sharm El-Sheikh. Salem's name is most frequently associated with the controversial deal to export Egyptian natural gas to Israel. Currently, he stands accused in the ongoing trial of Mubarak of squandering public funds by taking part in the gas deal. A verdict is expected on 3 June. In 2000, Salem established the East Mediterranean Gas Company in partnership with Youssi Maiman, a former Israeli Mossad officer. At the time Salem controlled 65 per cent of the shares. Egypt agreed to provide Israel with natural gas in 2005. The public prosecution claims the agreement resulted in Egyptian losses worth over $714 million. "I am an open minded businessman. I don't have a problem in dealing with Israelis," Salem explained to Adib. "But it wasn't my idea to export gas to Israel." During the interview, Salem denied the widely circulated charge that he sold Egyptian gas to Israel at prices below market value, saying the rate was fair when compared to that of other gas exporters such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Russia. Those countries, according to Salem, exported natural gas at less than $1 per million metric British thermal unit while Israel paid up to $3 for the same measure of Egyptian gas. Bringing Salem to Egypt is part of efforts by the IGA and the Egyptian government to reinstate money and assets illicitly collected by some of Mubarak's regime officials over the past three decades. Last week a Swiss court issued a ruling that gives the Egyptian government the right to be a plaintiff in the criminal case against officials of the Mubarak regime charged with money laundering. According to the court's ruling, Egypt was affected by alleged acts of corruption committed by Mubarak's former network of associates and family members. The court said it could not rule out the possibility that an organised criminal network was involved. In May last year, the Swiss government announced that it had frozen $442 million in assets held by Egyptian individuals belonging to the former Mubarak regime. If evidence showed that the assets stemmed from illegal sources, the Swiss government said it would return them to Egypt within an international, mutual legal assistance framework. A team of Swiss experts travelled to Cairo on 10 and 11 May 2011 to assist Egyptian judicial authorities in establishing mutual legal assistance procedures. The IGA last year estimated the value of such Swiss-based assets at over $400 million. Some $340 million of the money is believed to be placed under the names of Mubarak's sons Alaa and Gamal.
