06 February 2011

Mubarak's wealth

When I posted a query last week asking why Mubarak doesn't just leave Egypt, I commented that "he must have gobs of money."  Even though I'm a seasoned cynic, I was startled by the number cited by ABC News:
Experts say the wealth of the Mubarak family was built largely from military contracts during his days as an air force officer. He eventually diversified his investments through his family when he became president in 1981. The family's net worth ranges from $40 billion to $70 billion, by some estimates...

"The business ventures from his military and government service accumulated to his personal wealth," said Jamal. "There was a lot of corruption in this regime and stifling of public resources for personal gain."

Jamal said that Mubarak's assets are most likely in banks outside of Egypt, possibly in the United Kingdom and Switzerland...

Gross national income is $2,070 per family in Egypt, according to the World Bank.

3 comments:

  1. If his wealth = the annual income of 30M Egyptian families, which in a country of 80M people is probably everyone, that is equivalent to an American having $5 trillion.

    Of course, it would only be fair to remember he may have to spend that money outside Egypt, so he is not as wealthy as one might think.


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptians

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#Household_income_in_the_U.S.

    http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html

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  2. I wonder what his official pay has been over his time at the top, and to what extent his other incomes have been declared and taxed.

    This wealth is, no doubt, mostly safely squrrelled away, outside of Egypt, in untouchable bank accounts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah - in one or more of those perfectly legitimate Swiss banks where all the world's other war criminals, weapons peddlers and tax evaders stash their ill-gotten gains.

    ReplyDelete

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