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Hosni Mubarak is the worldâ€™s richest man

15 February 2011 11:59 (UTC +04:00)

The tally would put the 82-year-old comfortably ahead of Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim Helu, who is worth about $US53.5 billion, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, whose $US53 billion fortune makes him America’s richest man.

Mr Mubarak, his wife and two sons have been able accumulate wealth through government contracts and a number of business partnerships with foreigners, Christopher Davidson, professor of Middle East Politics at Durham University in England, told ABC.

Egyptian law requires that foreigners give a local business partner a 51 per cent stake in most ventures.

Meanwhile, Egyptian press reported that investigators were looking into the hidden wealth of Mr Mubarak’s allies, which ranged from the $US3 billion of party insider Ahmed Ezz to the $US1.2 billion of former interior minister Habib Ibrahim El-Adly.

Five hated cronies of Mr Mubarak each amassed fortunes topping $US1 billion, according to military prosecutors preparing criminal cases again them in the latest government concession meant to defuse the two-week-old Egyptian crisis.

Three of them, former Cabinet ministers, tried to flee the country over the weekend but were denied permission, Cairo airport sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egypt’s largest independent newspaper.

Mr Mubarak’s family wealth reportedly dates back to when Mubarak was an air force officer and in a position to benefit from corporate corruption on military contracts, mainly through business partnerships with foreign investors.

According to Princeton political science professor Amaney Jamal, Mr Mubarak’s assets are most likely in banks outside of Egypt, possibly in the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

"This is the pattern of other Middle Eastern dictators so their wealth will not be taken during a transition," she said. "These leaders plan on this."