Anti-corruption investigators due to question Mubarak

An investigation team has moved to Sharm el-Sheikh, where former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his wife Suzanne are staying, against a background of claims that his family's wealth may total billions of dollars.

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CAIRO // Egypt’s anti-corruption agency planned to interrogate former president Hosni Mubarak and his wife for the first time last night to examine charges they enriched themselves illegally, the state news agency said.

An investigation team has moved to Sharm el-Sheikh where Mubarak and his wife Suzanne are staying, the agency said, quoting Assem el-Gohari, a justice ministry official.

"Gohari said the team of investigators will begin the first session of its investigations with Mubarak and his wife this evening," the MENA report said.

"The two face accusations that they took advantage of the president's influence to accumulate massive wealth not commensurate with their legally established sources of income".

Some media reports have suggested the Mubarak family's wealth may total billions of dollars. Such claims were a major rallying point for anti-government protesters in a country where some 40 per cent of the population live on less than $2 per day.

Mr Mubarak, who has denied wrongdoing, was first detained on April 13 and has been in a hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh since he suffered health problems under initial questioning by officials from the public prosecutor's office.

The corruption investigation team will release a statement shortly after they finish the session, the news agency said.

Mass demonstrations forced Mubarak to step down on February 11 after three decades in power. Egypt's foreign ministry told its embassies in the Arab world and Western countries on February 22 to freeze the assets of the toppled leader and his family.