Switzerland and Egypt have held talks on how to move forward in the restitution of assets frozen in Swiss banks since the fall of Hosni Mubarak. Around CHF180 million has been unblocked since 2011. Attorney General Michael Lauber met with his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo on Saturday to examine the latest developments in ongoing criminal proceedings. Switzerland was the first country to freeze funds related to the Mubarak clan and his entourage when the former president stood down. Six people are currently being investigated by the Swiss authorities for money laundering or supporting a criminal organisation. Switzerland has frozen CHF430 million ($418 million) in related assets. Thirteen people were under suspicion from the start. The assets are set to remain frozen until February 2017, when the government will review whether to extend the freeze. In July 2015 the attorney general dropped criminal proceedings against several people in Switzerland and ordered the unblocking of frozen assets amounting to CHF180 million. This, a result of the "reconciliation of decisions taken in Switzerland and Egypt", according to the attorney general office's statement on Saturday. "The main challenges for the Swiss criminal proceedings remain the large amount of frozen assets and respecting the requirement to act promptly so that parties' rights are not infringed. The latter is important primarily because the Arab Republic of Egypt has the status of a private claimant in the Swiss proceedings," said the statement.
