Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s office has closed its 11-year criminal investigation into Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, the sons of the late former President of Egypt


The Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s office has closed its 11-year criminal investigation into Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, the sons of the late former President of Egypt, unfreezing all of their assets in Switzerland. The Swiss Prosecutor has said that:

  1. “the investigation conducted in Switzerland failed to establish even a tenuous link with any offence”;
  2. “the very thorough analyses of the bank transactions relating to funds located in Switzerland belonging to the suspects failed to reveal any suspicious transaction that might link the assets deposited in Switzerland with criminal acts”; and
  3. “it must now accept that the investigation has been unable to substantiate suspicions that would justify the indictment of anyone in Switzerland or any forfeiture of assets”.

The

Swiss prosecutor’s decision follows a series of favourable decisions vindicating Alaa and Gamal Mubarak including:

  1. The acquittal of Alaa and Gamal in Egypt in February 2020 in the only criminal case brought against them concerning their activities in financial advisory services and private equity fund management, after proceedings lasting almost eight years;
  2. The order of the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) annulling sanctions which had been imposed on the Mubarak family by the EU Council in 2016, 2017 and 2018, ruling that they were unlawful from the outset;
  3. The decision of the UK authorities in January 2021 not to include any member of the Mubarak family on its sanctions list enacted after Brexit. The UK government expressly stated that the Mubaraks did not meet the legal test for designation under UK law (see press release here);
  4. The decision of the EU authorities in March 2021, to lift its remaining sanctions against all members of the Mubarak family (see press release here);
  5. Most recently, on 6 April 2022, the EU General Court ruled in a new decision to annul sanctions imposed in 2018, 2019 and 2020, which it held were unlawful from the outset. The EU Council admitted that the Mubaraks’ fundamental rights were not respected in two of the Egyptian judicial proceedings it had previously relied upon to impose sanctions. Moreover, the Court asserted that the evidence before it should have raised legitimate doubts with the EU Council as to whether the Mubaraks’ rights of defence and right to effective judicial protection were respected in all the other Egyptian proceedings relied on to impose sanctions.


Carter-Ruck’s International Law department, led by partner Guy Martin, with senior associates Charles Enderby Smith and François Holmey, has been advising the Mubarak family in relation to the EU’s sanctions measures since 2013.


All enquiries should be directed to Guy Martin or Charles Enderby Smith on +44 20 7353 5005 and at [email protected] and [email protected].