CAIRO: The British government on Tuesday issued a statement that lashed out at the recent report by BBC Arabic that claimed the UK was not doing enough to return stolen assets to the Egyptian government. Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Alistair Burt said, “we understand the strength of feeling in Egypt on this issue and we are working closely with their authorities to identify and restrain assets their courts have identified as stolen.” In a BBC Arabic investigative documentary shown on Monday evening, it revealed that the British government had potentially violated the sanctions agreement it signed in March 2011 to freeze the property and business assets of 19 key members of Egypt's toppled dictatorship. Assets amounting to many millions of pounds including properties in Knightsbridge and Chelsea, and companies registered in the UK have been discovered by the BBC Arabic team, “all of which have direct connections to the names on the official sanctions list – and yet have not been frozen,” BBC Arabic said in a press statement. While the British minister did specifically deny the accusations, he also called for calm and an understanding of the situation. “It is crucial that the recovery and return of stolen assets is lawful. It is simply not possible for the UK to deprive a person of their assets and return them to an overseas country in the absence of a criminal conviction and confiscation order,” the minister's statement continued. “We are therefore working closely with the appropriate authorities in Egypt to help them understand the legal process and how to work with it effectively and efficiently, including through expert-expert contacts in the UK and Cairo, the signing of a memorandum of understanding on intelligence sharing with the Egyptian financial intelligence unit, and increased police-to-police intelligence co-operation,” he added. Mohamed Mahsoob, the newly appointed Minister for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs told BBC Arabic that “the UK is one of the worst countries when it comes to tracing and freezing Egyptian assets... the UK is doing nothing less than bleeding Egyptian assets which can only be to the detriment of the Egyptian nation." Up until now, the UK government says they have frozen around £85m ($125m) of Egyptian money. Switzerland have frozen around £550m ($734m) and managed to put a freeze on the Egyptian money within half an hour of Mubarak falling from power. “It took the UK government 37 days before the freezing order was made,” BBC Arabic said. For Burt, the report is baseless and does not give justice to the ongoing efforts made by the UK in resolving the Egyptian assets issue. “We reject any allegation that the UK could have acted more quickly to freeze assets. HMG cannot obtain a restraint order on the basis of suspicion alone. Substantial evidence is required. That's why we led efforts to secure an EU wide freeze, giving Egypt time to complete criminal proceedings. It took time to be agreed with all 27 EU countries, as was necessary,” he said. The report has opened once again the issue of the assets of Egypt's former rulers and the role the British government has played in not returning the money. At a time when Egypt faces an uncertain economic future, anger over the UK government's reaction to the situation has fomented frustration in Egypt.
