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| Egypt requests freeze on Mubaraks' foreign assets Posted: 21 Feb 2011 07:20 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's public prosecutor on Monday told the foreign ministry to seek a freeze on the foreign assets of Hosni Mubarak and his family, the first sign that the former president would be held to account by the military leadership to whom he handed power. The prosecutor said in a statement he had asked the foreign ministry to use diplomatic channels to request a freeze on foreign assets and accounts held by Mubarak, his wife Suzanne and his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, together with their wives.
A legal representative for Mubarak denied media reports that the former president had amassed enormous wealth in office, the official MENA news agency reported on Sunday. "The former President Hosni Mubarak has submitted his final financial statement to the concerned judicial bodies according to the law," said the legal representative to Mubarak, according to the report. Since mass protests forced Mubarak to step down on Feb. 11, handing power to the army, some media reports have suggested the former president's wealth may have amounted to billions of dollars. Some anti-Mubarak protesters demanded that he be held accountable for squandering the nation's wealth. (Writing by Tom Perry and Edmund Blair, editing by Mark Trevelyan) Copyright © 2011 Reuters | ||
| Putin return would harm ties with West: ex-tycoon Posted: 21 Feb 2011 06:49 AM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - Jailed former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky said on Monday Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency next year would increase tension with the West and close the door on a peaceful transition of power.
Putin, former president who is now prime minister, and President Dmitry Medvedev have both hinted they will run in next year's presidential election, but have said they will decide between themselves who will stand. Khodorkovsky said Putin's return to the country's top job would turn back the clock and consolidate the grip on power by Putin and his circle made up mostly of former security agents, and make their removal impossible except by force. "If Putin runs in the elections, this would mean that the peaceful transition of power has failed," he said in written comments published on Monday by Russia's respected political weekly Kommersant-Vlast. A single candidate is likely to emerge by the end of this year, closer to the parliamentary election in December. Khodorkovsky, 47, former head of what was Russia's biggest oil firm Yukos, was sentenced last December to sit in jail until October 2017 in a ruling seen as politically motivated by Putin's critics. A poll by Levada, an independent polling centre showed on Monday 34 percent of Russians believed there could be public unrest and the overthrow the government as had occurred in Egypt. Putin served as president from 2000 to 2008 and created a power base in the Kremlin and among business leaders. His successor Medvedev, whom he steered into office in 2008, has focused on the need for reform and improvement of the rule of law. Khodorkovsky said Putin's return to the Kremlin would aggravate confrontation with the West following the easing of tension with both NATO and the United States in the past two years. "(Putin's return) would mean that the choice has been made towards limited confrontation with the West," he said. Russia and NATO have agreed to cooperate on missile defence, while Moscow's ties with Washington have been "reset", boosted by a landmark nuclear treaty that committed the world's top two nuclear powers to reduce their atomic arsenals. Khodorkovsky was first convicted of fraud and tax evasion in 2005 after running afoul of the Kremlin by funding opposition groups and speaking out against widespread, high-level corruption. (Editing by Andrew Dobbie) Copyright © 2011 Reuters |
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