Sisi calls on G20 to help restore ‘looted’ funds

More needs to be done to help retrieve Egypt’s “looted” assets, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi told leaders at the G20 economic summit in China.

He stressed the importance of implementing the summit’s plan which includes discussing the restoration of the looted money and assets currently frozen in international banks.

Fighting corruption is a “priority for Egypt”, he stressed, welcoming a two year action plan consistent with guidelines set out by the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

Much talk has circulated regarding reclaiming funds from the Mubarak regime with little success despite a new presidential decree establishing the National Committee for the Repatriation of Egyptian Money and Assets Abroad. Such committees have spent close to “half a billion” in public funds trying to reclaim the money and getting nowhere.

The funds are frozen until 2017. International states are reluctant to release the funds for fear Egypt is unable, or not yet ready, to procure such amounts.