The mounting pressure from 18 days of historic protests finally
drove Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from office, after 30-years as
his nation’s iron-fisted ruler. But the dictator should not shed a
single drop of tear because the fortune he amassed is more than enough
to finance his retirement comfortably. It would be nice and
jaw-dropping if Forbes can compile the world’s richest dictators or
politicians simply because it would put world’s richest man, Mexican
Carlos Slim (worth about US$54 billion) and Bill Gates (net worth about
US$53 billion) to shame.
Armed with suspended constitution for 30 years, Hosni Mubarak was in virtually every piece of business deal in the country thanks to guaranteed profit from monopolies, red-tape fees, bribery fees, nepotism and whatnot. The British Guardian newspaper estimated the wealth of Mubarak and his family at somewhere between US$40 billion and US$70 billion.That’s about US$1 billion to US$2 billion net profit annually on average, not bad for a job as a president ruling a nation with GDP per capita of just $6,300.
![Hosni Mubarak Demoracy]( "Mubarak_Democracy")
In fact, Mubarak knew it was game over when the protesters persisted
even after he cut the nation’s internet access and use of forces to
intimidate the tens of hundreds of protesters. And his delayed exit was
definitely not to pray for a dignified exit but rather to buy time to move money around and hide significant parts of his fortune.
If former Philippine President Marcos had US$684 million on deposits in
various Swiss banks alone, expect nothing less than that from
Mubarak’s Swiss accounts. The Swiss government has said it is
temporarily freezing any assets in Swiss banks that could be linked to
Mubarak.
Armed with suspended constitution for 30 years, Hosni Mubarak was in virtually every piece of business deal in the country thanks to guaranteed profit from monopolies, red-tape fees, bribery fees, nepotism and whatnot. The British Guardian newspaper estimated the wealth of Mubarak and his family at somewhere between US$40 billion and US$70 billion.That’s about US$1 billion to US$2 billion net profit annually on average, not bad for a job as a president ruling a nation with GDP per capita of just $6,300.
