Egypt’s state prosecutor has renewed the detention of ousted president Hosni Mubarak for another 15 days amid a probe into a deadly crackdown on protesters and into allegations of widespread corruption while Mr. Mubarak was in power, MENA news agency said Friday.
The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has called for an immediate investigation into accounts, investments or deposits in the Gulf state belonging to Mr. Mubarak and his immediate family. The bank requested national banks, investment companies, and the main branches of foreign banks to search for financial transfers done on behalf of Mr. Mubarak.
Since stepping down as president, speculation has risen over the precise size of Mr. Mubarak’s financial assets. Egypt’s public prosecutor is currently investigating Mr. Mubarak’s alleged embezzlement of public funds and ordered his local and foreign assets to be frozen.
Mr. Mubarak, who was forced to resign in February after mass protests, was first remanded into preventive custody for 15 days on April 13 on suspicion of involvement in a deadly crackdown on protesters, and on corruption issues.
"The state prosecutor, Abdel Maguid Mahmud, decided to renew the detention of ex-president Hosni Mubarak for 15 days for questioning… effective when his last detention period expires," the agency reported.
Mr. Mubarak is under detention in a hospital in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he has lived since his ouster. There have also been conflicting reports that the former president was moved to a military hospital in Cairo.
The report said that prosecutors traveled to the resort on Friday to further interrogate Mubarak.
A Cairo court on Thursday ruled that Mr. Mubarak’s, and that of his wife, Suzanne, be removed from all public places. Meanwhile, additional police and troops were deployed in the southern governorate of Minya after a family dispute sparked deadly sectarian clashes.
Judge Mohammed Hassan Omar said the names of the former president and his wife would be removed from "public squares, streets, libraries and other public institutions around the country," the official MENA agency reported.
Mr. Mubarak, 82, was forced to step down from the Egyptian presidency on February 11 after nearly three weeks of anti-regime protests that ended his 30-year rule.
The former president is under arrest in a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, being questioned over his alleged role in violence against protesters during the popular protests that erupted on January 25. There are reports that he has been moved to a military medical facility in Cairo.
His two sons, Alaa and Gamal, are also in prison pending investigations into the violence during the revolution as well as corruption charges. They are being held in Bora Farm prison in Cairo.
Egypt, meanwhile, has deployed extra police and troops in Minya after a dispute between a Christian and Muslim family sparked deadly sectarian clashes, a security official said, according to Agence-France Press. No word yet about casualties.
A curfew has been imposed on the town of Abu Qorqas after a dispute between the two families over the building of a speed bump turned into clashes between the town’s Muslims and Christians that left two Muslims dead.
Furious Muslim residents then went on the rampage on Wednesday burning homes and shops owned by Coptic Christians.
"Calm has been restored in the town, but the situation remains tense," the official told AFP.
The violence in Minya comes as thousands of angry protesters in the neighboring governorate of Qena continued to rally against the appointment of a Christian governor, in a region with a history of sectarian fighting and where relations between Muslims and Copts are fragile.
The incidents raised fears of widespread sectarian unrest, with Egypt’s Christian minority long complaining of discrimination.
Egypt’s Christians make up 10 percent of the country’s 82-million population.
In Qena, protesters blocked a vital north-south railway link and several main roads, saying they would not leave until governor Emad Mikhail—a senior police officer under the regime of ousted president Hosni Mubarak—was removed from his post.
In a statement, Egypt’s cabinet on Wednesday rejected calls to overturn Governor Mikhail’s appointment, saying objections based on religion were "unacceptable."
"The governor of Qena has not and will not resign and there are no alternatives. Objections [to someone] based on religion are unacceptable," said cabinet spokesman Ahmed al-Saman, MENA reported.
Visits this week to Qena by officials, including the interior minister, failed to placate the protesters who have called for a massive protest on Friday.
The UAE central bank issued a notice for financial institutions to show "unity in the face of money laundering and suspicious cases," according to the Arabic newspaper Economic Vision this week.
The bank urged financial institutions for detailed reports on the amounts deposited, withdrawn or transferred to and from the accounts of the former Egyptian president.
It also requested names of the depositors, beneficiaries and their sources, to be supported by relevant documents, such as opening bank account forms.
The central bank’s notice warned financial institutions that failure to comply with the investigation would be a crime under the UAE’s money laundering law.
Earlier this month, in Mr. Mubarak’s first public remarks since resigning, he hit back at "campaigns of defamation and false accusations" and at critics estimating the size of his wealth.
In a recorded message broadcast exclusively on Al Arabiya television, Mr. Mubarak said he does not own any accounts or assets outside of Egypt.
He said he openly welcomed inquiries into his finances.
Mr. Mubarak said: "I agree to sign any form that would enable the Egyptian public prosecutor to ask the Egyptian foreign ministry to contact all the foreign ministries worldwide to inform them of my approval, and my wife’s, to reveal any account that we have abroad since I started my military and political public work until now."
But speculation continues. The Egyptian state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported the Mubarak family had "secret accounts in Egyptian banks," including deposits of $147 million for his wife Suzanne and $100 million each for his sons and their wives.