Moubarak, le “printemps arabe” et la City

Moubarak, le “printemps arabe” et la City

Un très long texte de l’Observer, du 2 septembre 2012, embarrasse paraît-il le gouvernement britannique. La question est de savoir si cette chose nommée “gouvernement britannique” sait encore ce que cela signifie, “être embarrassé”. On s’interroge pour passer le temps.

Le texte en question détaille comment, dix-huit mois après la chute de Moubarak, les principaux avoirs de la famille Moubarak, des copains et des coquins qui valsaient autour, continuent à être en bonne position à la City de Londres, religieusement fructifiés, réinvestis avec habileté, et ainsi de suite. Le gouvernement de Londres avait promis (in illo tempore, circa février 2011) qu’il serait mis bon ordre à tout cela, que l’argent “du peuple” volé, brigandé et spolié, serait immédiatement saisi et restitué au susdit peuple. Il faut dire qu’entretemps, le gouvernement britannique a été occupé par deux nouvelles croisades de son exigeante vertu, contre les effroyables dictateurs Kadhafi et Assad qu’il exécrait depuis si longtemps et qu'il entendait bien assiéger pour leur faire belle et prompte justice à la première occasion.

Le texte, kilométrique et détaillé, permet également de mesurer combien le régime Moubarak avait, religieusement lui aussi, mis l’Égypte complètement dans le régime ultralibéral et de marché extrêmement libre conforme aux prescriptions du bloc BAO/Système. Pour autant, il doit être entendu que la chute de Moubarak se confirme comme la victoire de la démocratie et des droits de l’homme des standards bloc BAO/Système.

«Britain has allowed key members of Egypt's toppled dictatorship to retain millions of pounds of suspected property and business assets in the UK, potentially violating a globally-agreed set of sanctions. The situation has led to accusations that ministers are more interested in preserving the City of London's cosy relationship with the Arab financial sector than in securing justice.

»Hosni Mubarak, the ousted former president, was sentenced to life in jail in June. A six-month investigation, conducted by BBC Arabic and released in conjunction with the Guardian and al-Hayat, a pan-Arab newspaper, has identified many valuable assets linked to his family and their associates that have not been frozen. These include luxury houses in Chelsea and Knightsbridge and companies registered in central London. One member of Mubarak's inner circle has even been permitted to set up a UK-based business in recent months, despite being named on a British Treasury sanctions list of Egyptians who are linked to misappropriated assets and subject to an asset-freeze.

»In response to the investigation, the Foreign Office said it was working closely with its Egyptian counterparts to hunt down Mubarak regime assets. The Treasury, which has a dedicated unit tasked with implementing financial sanctions, said it was confident it had acted properly. Both departments said they could not comment on individual cases.

»The revelations will embarrass British ministers, who have previously expressed support for the Arab uprisings and vowed to take “decisive action” to track down and return illicit funds taken out of Egypt. Yet 18 months on from the downfall of Mubarak, publicly-accessible records from Companies House and Land Registry indicate that the fortunes of regime figures convicted of embezzling money from Egypt remain at least partially on UK soil and untouched by British authorities.

»The problem is compounded by the apparent lack of political will in Egypt when it comes to chasing former regime assets – a situation which some experts attribute to the continued influence of major players from the Mubarak era. Egypt's government is currently pursuing a lawsuit against the UK Treasury for dragging its heels on asset recovery.

»“This is a collective crime from both the British and Egyptian governments,” said Dr Mohamed Mahsoob, a public investigator who led enquiries into Egypt's “stolen billions” and who has since been appointed to the country's new cabinet. “The UK is one of the worst countries when it comes to tracing and freezing Egyptian assets,” he said.

»“The British are saying that they need official requests from the Egyptian government before they take any action and that until this happens they are allowing the free movement of assets and the closure of certain accounts of companies beyond UK borders, to be reinvested elsewhere under different guises in order to prevent it from being retrieved.” “This is pure political profiteering that doesn't reflect the concept of British justice and democracy that we teach in Egyptian universities.” “The UK is doing nothing less than bleeding Egyptian assets, which can only be to the detriment of the Egyptian nation.”

»An aggressive free-market reform programme instituted by the Mubarak regime in the 1990s and 2000s saw previously state-owned companies and landholdings shift into the hands of private businessmen at an astonishing rate. Prominent “big sharks” within the ruling NDP party – including Mubarak's playboy son and assumed successor Gamal – amassed huge riches. Popular anger with the scale of corruption was a driving force behind Egypt's revolution…»

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