The British government said it is ready to send back all frozen assets from Egyptian officials provided Egyptian authorities deliver evidence that these funds were illegally obtained, the British Ambassador to Egypt said Wednesday. Fund recovery should take place in accordance with the British law, Dominic Asquith told Egypt's official MENA news agency, noting that the British authorities asked Egypt over a month ago to prove that these funds were illegally obtained. “We are still waiting for the Egyptian response”, he said. If the evidence is provided, the British court will investigate to verify its accuracy, and if proven true it will return the funds to Egypt, Asquith said. Asked whether there is a deadline for restoring these funds, he said there is no such thing and the Brtish authorities are waiting for evidence from Attorney General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud in this respect. There are ongoing contacts between British and Egyptian officials on this matter, the diplomat said, adding Egyptian officials are welcome to visit Britain to discuss this issue and also British officials can visit Egypt for the same discussion. Britain has prompted the European Union to quickly respond to the Egyptian request to freeze assets of Egyptian officials involved in corruption cases and issued an asset freeze decision that went into effect on March 22. Concerning the exact value of Egyptian officials' frozen assets in Britain, the diplomat said he cannot give any speculations in this respect. BM
