Mubarak’s fugitive finance minister released in France

After his arrest in Paris on Monday, French authorities released Youssef Boutros-Ghali — finance minister under ousted President Hosni Mubarak — at Interpol’s request on Wednesday.

Ghali’s was granted political asylum in the UK, and thus could not be legally extradited to face political charges.

Found guilty on charges of corruption, squandering and mismanaging public funds to the tune of LE200 million, Ghali was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment in absentia by Cairo’s Criminal Court on June 4, 2011.

Prior to his ministerial position, Ghali worked for the International Monetary Fund and Egypt’s Central Bank.

A loyal member of Mubarak’s National Democratic Party, and one of his chief policy-makers, 61-year-old Ghali fled Egypt and sought refuge in Europe immediately after the outbreak of the 2011 uprising against Mubarak.

Ghali has been residing in London since then, but has not kept a low profile.

Flying from London to Paris on April 14, he was arrested upon arrival at Charles De Gaulle Airport in the French capital. He was detained for two days in France and was reportedly being processed for extradition to Egypt, as the two countries have signed extradition agreements with each other.

Numerous local media reports had suggested that Ghali was in the process of being handed-over to the Egyptian authorities, yet this fugitive minister appears to have slipped away from his criminal sentence, at least for the time being.

Other senior officials of the Mubarak-era who have sought refuge abroad since the January 25 Revolution include: Gas, firearms and real estate tycoon Hussein Salem, who resides in Spain, and former Minister of Industry and Trade Rachid Mohamed Rachid, who has been residing in the UK and Turkey.

Like Ghali, Salem and Rachid have both been sentenced in absentia to lengthy prison terms on charges of corruption, embezzling millions of pounds and the financial mismanagement of public funds.