FRANCE: Foreign Ministry spokesman says France is to co-operate with Egypt to freeze assets of former Egyptian officials

Record ID: 735297

  • Title: FRANCE: Foreign Ministry spokesman says France is to co-operate with Egypt to freeze assets of former Egyptian officials
  • Date: 16th February 2011
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (FEBRUARY 15, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN BERNARD VALERO AT NEWS BRIEFING JOURNALISTS AT NEWS BRIEFING (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN BERNARD VALERO SAYING: "First of all we are going to deal with this request in a very positive and constructive and cooperative spirit, this is very important. Second, we have activated today our Tracfin cell which is part of the Finance ministry which is charge of tracking capital, assets and so on in France. And third, we also told our Egyptian partners that we were going to ask in Brussels today, in the frame of the council of economy and finance ministers of Europe to deal also with these issues." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN BERNARD VALERO SAYING: "We, the French, are going to do our job, but if ever there could be some consultations and cooperation at the European level on this issue, to respond more efficiently to the request of the Egyptian authorities, that would be really good and that's our goal." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN BERNARD VALERO SAYING: "It's less than ten people and lastly, as I said before, and I would like to say it again, neither the former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak nor any members of his family appear on this list." WIDE VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 3rd March 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France, France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAUKHFC7ZF94H9N1C4NEOGCDQF
  • Story Text: French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said on Tuesday (February 15) in Paris that France would co-operate with Egypt in tracking assets of former Egyptian officials.
    "First of all we are going to deal with this request in a very positive and constructive and cooperative spirit, this is very important. Second, we have activated today our Tracfin cell which is part of the Finance Ministry which is charge of tracking capital, assets and so on in France. And third, we also told our Egyptian partners that we were going to ask in Brussels today, in the frame of the council of economy and finance ministers of Europe to deal also with these issues", Bernard Valero Egypt has asked France to freeze the assets of former high-ranking officials but has not asked for a freeze on those of Hosni Mubarak, Valero said on Monday.
    "It's less than ten people and lastly, as I said before, and I would like to say it again, neither the former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak nor any members of his family appear on this list," Valero said.
    Britain too says it has been asked to freeze assets of Egyptian former officials but has not given names, leading to questions about Mubarak, who is believed to hold billions of dollars of assets abroad.
    Mubarak quit after 30 years in power last week in the face of popular protests inspired by an uprising in Tunisia that led to the ousting on Jan. 14 of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years as president there.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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