Egypt sues UK over frozen assets

Egypt has strongly criticised the UK for “not helping enough” with the recovery of Egyptian assets frozen since last year.

“UK Treasury is neither helping nor co-operating enough with us to repatriate the frozen assets,” an Egyptian senior judicial official told BBC Arabic. The Treasury’s Asset Freezing Unit froze about £85m worth of Egyptian assets 13 months ago. It denied the Egyptian claims that it was not co-operating. Assem Algouhary, head of Illicit Gains Department in the Egyptian ministry of justice, accused the Treasury of violating the United Nations Convention against Corruption and a European Union regulation about freezing the assets. This is first time Egypt has criticised British authorities publicly over the issue. The UK took the lead in the EU to issue legislation to freeze the assets of 19 Egyptians, including former President Hosni Mubarak, his family members and some of his former ministers during the Egyptian uprising early last year.