The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) and The Corner House received a letter from the European Commission's Service for Foreign Policy Instrument confirming the freezing of four bank accounts linked to a Gamal Mubarak co-owned company in Cyprus named Bullion Co. ltd.

The document was in response to a joint letter sent by EIPR and the Corner House to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton on the 4^th of April, 2013, after a joint investigation carried out by the two organisations revealed last year freezable assets belonging to Gamal Mubarak in Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands (BVI). EIPR and The Corner House have also corresponded with the authorities in Cyprus and the BVI on the same day to communicate to them the existence of freezable assets belonging to Gamal Mubarak in their territories.

“We write as Egyptian and UK non-governmental organisations…setting out our concerns that Gamal Mubarak, the son of the former President of Egypt, appears, on the balance of probability, to have a beneficial financial interest and/or an ownership stake in a number of companies in Cyprus. We are concerned no action appears to have been taken to investigate these companies or, if grounds exist, to freeze their assets,” reads the letter sent by EIPR and The Corner House to the European Union.

After nearly one year, EIPR and Corner House have finally received a response to their request for investigating such assets, and welcome it as an essential step in the long fight against corruption. European Commission Officer Mr. Tung-Lai Margue  stated in his letter: “My services have liaised with the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus, who have advised that Mr Gamal Mubarak has a 50% shareholding in Bullion Co Ltd, which was incorporated and registered in Cyprus in 1996…Bullion Co Ltd maintains four bank accounts at a Cypriot Bank, of which Mr. Gamal Mubarak is a co-beneficiary. My services have been advised that the four accounts have been frozen since the entry into force of the Regulation 270/2011.”

The EIPR and Corner House are committed to working together in cooperation with the authorities of different countries to trace freezable assets until they return to their rightful owners.

To Read the Letter: Click Here