CAIRO - An Egyptian judicial official said he didn't violat the secrecy of investigations underway with two sons of former president Hosni Mubarak over money laundering and corruption, refuting allegations by the Mubaraks' defence lawyers. "Declaring details about assets belonging to Gamal and Alaa Mubarak is not a violation of the probe's secrecy. This is just reporting the truth," said Assem el-Gohari, the head of the Ill-gotten Gains Authority, in a press conference. He added that his declaration, earlier this week that the two sons of Egypt's former president had $352 million frozen in Switzerland, was based on an approval by the Swiss authorities to let Egypt be a prosecutor in the case against them. El-Gohari said on Monday Switzerland had frozen Mubarak family assets worth $450 million and that Swiss authorities were investigating accusations of money laundering by Alaa Mubarak and two other former regime figures. Gohari said Mubarak's closest confidante Hussein Salem and his family own assets worth $4 billion in various countries which they switched into cash and deposited in banks in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. Farid el-Deeb, a lawyer for Alaa and Gamal, said in press remarks he would file a report to the Chief Prosecutor against el-Gohari for revealing secret pieces of information on his two clients while the investigations are underway. "The Ill-gotten Gains Authority issued a decision on October 16 to freeze the assets of the Mubaraks and informed banks, the notary public and other institutions," el-Gohari said. Both sons are in custody in a Cairo prison as they stand trial on an array of charges, including corruption. The assets of Mubarak's two sons make up the great majority of the $460 million in Egyptian funds frozen by the Swiss government since the veteran strongman's overthrow in February. Switzerland vowed last week to expedite the return of funds once held by members of the Mubarak regime and that of ousted Tunisian strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
