CAIRO: The Egyptian government is pushing Switzerland to have money taken outside the North African country by former President Hosni Mubarak returned to Egypt. However, the Swiss foreign ministry seems unwilling to make the move, after receiving the third request. According to the head of international law at the ministry, Valentin Zalluger, the most recent request for legal assistance from Cairo has been sent to the federal prosecutor's office in the European country. Egypt's Mubarak had a number of international bank accounts with hundreds of millions, if not more, in them, and since his ousting in February, the interim Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has been attempting to have the money returned to Egypt to help a tumbling economic situation. In a statement, the Swiss prosecutor said that a criminal case has been opened. “We are continuing our efforts with the Egyptian authorities and we believe the Egyptian judicial system can move to claim those assets and funds; the first request was made in August 2011 and the second in October 2011,” the statement said. According to Zalluger, in comments to Swissinfo on Friday, the ministry is “optimistic” about a possible agreement to return $445 million of assets owned by the Mubarak family and friends, to Egypt. The ministry did say that Swiss law does give the ability for smuggled money to be issued upon a court ruling that the money was obtained illegally. It would be a similar deal as to the one Tunisia received following their own revolution earlier this year. BM
