CAIRO - The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) ordered banks nationwide to freeze the assets of at least 28 public figures, businessmen, former ministers and officials, pending investigations into corruption and a possible ban on their leaving the country. The list includes Gamal Mubarak, the son of ousted President Hosni Mubarak; businessman Magdi Rezq, father-in-law of Mubarak's other son Alaa; businessman Yassin Mansour, brother of former Minister of Transport Mohamed Mansour and cousin of imprisoned ex-Minister of Housing Ahmed el-Maghrabi; and business tycoon brothers Naguib and Sameeh Sawiris, according to Al-Youm Al-Sabea online. Others on the list are ex-Minister of Information Anas el-Feqqi; Hassan Hamdi, the Chairman of Al-Ahram Advertising Agency and head of the popular Ahly Sporting Club; Hamdi's deputy at the club, Mahmoud el-Khateib; the head of the Egyptian Football Association Samir Zaher; Ahmed Suleiman, the goalkeeping coach of the national football team; and Police Colonel Talaat Mansour. The list also features the head of the Industrial Development Authority, Amr Assal; ex-MP and business tycoon Mohamed Abul Enein; businessmen Mohamed Shafiq Boghdadi and Tamer Taie'a; and former Red Sea Governor Abu Bakr el-Rashidi. The Sawiris brothers left Egypt on their private planes two days before the decision was made, while Yassin Mansour is having knee surgery in London. The list further includes ex-Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif; ex-Minister of Military Production Field Marshal Sayyed Tantawi; ex-Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros Ghali; ex-Minister of Health Hatem el-Gabali; and the latter's brother, businessman Sherif el-Gabali. Incumbent Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tareq Kamel and advertising expert Tareq Nour are also on the list. More names include Red Sea Governor Magdi el-Kubeisi; Ashraf el-Sherif (son of the ex-chairman of the Shura Council, Safwat el-Sharif); ex-MP for opposition el-Ghad Party Ragab Helal Hemida; and businessman Hussein Salem, known to have close relations with the ousted President Mubarak. Meanwhile, Al-Youm Al-Sabea quoted sources as saying that business tycoon Mohamed el-Morshidi of Mubarak's National Democratic Party has been arrested in Maadi, south of Cairo, in connections with the investigations into the killing of protesters during clashes in Al Tahrir Square on February 2. The pitched battle, thought to be between Mubarak's supporters and protesters seeking to topple him, was widely believed to have been orchestrated by leaders of the National Democratic Party (NDP), the State Security Police and the police. It was later dubbed the ‘Battle of the Camel'. Meanwhile, there was tight security around the villa of ex-chief of Cairo Security Department, Major-General Ismail al-Shaer, and that of his son, pending investigations after documents found with el-Morshidi suggested their involvement in the massacre. It has been reported that the attack launched by thugs, security personnel in plain clothes and ex-convicts to drive the anti-Mubarak protesters out of Al Tahrir "by all means", was planned by Safwat el-Sherif, the Secretary-General of Mubarak's party, Gamal Mubarak and the former Presidential Chief of Staff, Zakaria Azmi. The implementation of the operation was entrusted to ex-Minister of Interior Habib el-Adly, currently in prison over charges of graft. In a related development, some members of the independent Press Syndicate filed a report with the Chief Prosecutor, demanding the freezing of the assets of Safwat el-Sherif, while investigations into his activities continue. The report, carried by Al-Youm Al-Sabea, accused el-Sherif of "spoiling the journalistic scene" in Egypt, as he used to receive valuable presents worth million of Egyptian pounds from the heads of the press institutions and editors-in-chief. It claimed that even el-Sherif's spacious flat in Heliopolis in eastern Cairo was a present from Al-Aharm Press House.
