Sat, 07/05/2011 - 10:36
http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/426526
Mahdi Abbassi, a member of the Tunisian committee for restoring funds smuggled outside Tunisia during the rule of toppled president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, said Egypt will only be able to restore 20 percent of the funds smuggled outside Egypt during Hosni Mubarak's rule.
A Swiss lawyer previously told Al-Masry Al-Youm the same estimation.
As the cost of money laundering is 40-60 percent of the original amount being laundered, more than half the money smuggled out goes to criminal gangs, Abbassi said.
Money smuggled out over the past five years will be easy to track because it will not have been subjected to several money laundering operations, he added, while funds smuggled out during the revolution, until Mubarak’s assets were frozen, will not have been exposed to any laundering operations and will not require great effort to return, he added.
However, much of the money stashed away throughout Mubarak’s 30-year reign will be almost impossible to locate, he said.