The son of Egypt’s former president said Tuesday that he and family members were innocent of corruption charges made in international courts after the country’s 2011 popular uprising.
The announcement by Gamal Mubarak, the son of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, came after years of attempts by the deposed president’s family to rehabilitate its image as it faced litigation in Egypt and abroad.
In the 20-minute long video released online and titled “Mubarak family statement on the successful conclusion of all international judicial proceedings,” he portrayed the family’s legal issues as resolved.
He said that the announcement was prompted by media making false allegations of corruption against his family, but did not explain how the family had amassed its significant wealth.
He said his family has decided that they simply cannot stay silent anymore in the face of such persistent defamatory reporting and that it was time that the family responds.
In February, a massive leak of Credit Suisse clients’ information showed Gamal Mubarak and his brother, Alaa, to have held at least $197.5 million in the bank at one point in time.
The 2011 protests were built on calls for an end to deep-rooted embezzlement and government corruption in Egypt, and growing concerns that Gamal Mubarak would be set up to succeed his father, who was in power for nearly 30 years.
The international anti-corruption group Transparency International has estimated that as president, Mubarak stole some $70 billion in public funds. The former president died in 2020, aged 91.
