Central bank denies secret Mubarak accounts

Egypt's central bank has denied local media reports claiming that former president Hosni Mubarak held $9 billion (Dh33.1 billion) in secret accounts, the bank said in an emailed statement sent on Thursday. The local Egyptian daily newspaper Youm 7 published reports citing the former deputy head of the Central Auditing Agency, Assem Abdul Moety, claiming that Mubarak stored over $9 billion in three secret Central Bank accounts, which are now frozen. He also told the privately owned newspaper $8.7 billion was deposited in the first of Mubarak's personal accounts in 1992. But the Central Bank said in its statement that this money was originally deposited in a state account titled "Amounts Received from Arab States" between 1990 and 1992 by five Arab countries as non-refundable grants to Egypt, totalling $4.6 billion at the time. The bank also said the money was added to the international reserves balance, and was invested in time deposits with foreign banks and in US Treasury bills. With interest, the money grew to $8.82 billion by 31 December 2011, and is still kept with the bank in the name of the state, said the Central Bank. The Central Bank reiterated that all funds related to Mubarak and his family have been frozen since February 28, 2011, by the order of the country's general prosecution.