Egypt to confiscate funds of 120 alleged Brotherhood financiers

Egyptian authorities will confiscate the funds of 120 people accused of financing the Muslim Brotherhood, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

The announcement follows last year’s decision by the Committee for Inventory, Seizure and Management of Terrorist Funds to transfer up to 60 billion Egyptian pounds ($3.7 billion) directly to the Egyptian Treasury, which caused an outcry among human rights organisations.

In April 2018 the Sisi regime passed Law 22 which made it legal for the state to transfer assets to the treasury rather than freezing or managing them as it was allowed to do prior to this legislation.

Former President Mohamed Morsi, Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, Khairat Al-Shater, Mohammed El-Beltagy and Yusuf Al-Qaradawi have all been targeted by the order to seize funds.

Also accused of financing the Brotherhood is the footballer Mohamed Aboutrika, in what is clearly a politicised attack after the star player endorsed the organisation in the lead up to the post revolution elections.

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“This is not football. This is a war and people are dying in front of us. Is life this cheap?” he wrote in the aftermath of the 2012 Port Said massacre.

The decision to confiscate funds is part of a broader plan to abuse both the Muslim Brotherhood and the opposition and apply constant pressure on them.

This latest seizure was delayed due to a difference between the intelligence apparatus, dominated by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s inner circle, and Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, which advocates liquidating the seized funds rather than transferring them to the treasury, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

The National Security Service has summoned a number of people and warned them to prepare their companies for being imminently confiscated by the state; including disclosing all properties registered in their name.

Authorities threatened to bring legal cases against those who conceal property or transfer it to other people to protect it from being confiscated.