Egypt's prosecution settlement by fugitive businessman Salem

Egypt's prosecution is examining a settlement request by business tycoon Hussein Salem for pending investigations and lawsuits Egypt's general prosecution is looking into "settling all judicial disputes" of multi-millionaire businessman Hussein Salem, attorney general of Public Funds Prosecution Mostafa El-Husseini told state-run news agency MENA Thursday. El-Husseini said the prosecution is looking into a request filed by Salem's lawyer to settle all of his defendant's cases in courts and those pending investigation in any way the prosecution sees fit. Salem, who fled Egypt to Spain during the 25 January revolution and is a close associate of ousted former president Hosni Mubarak, said that he is willing to pay any amount of money set by the prosecution. Salem is currently being investigated and tried in several lawsuits, including squandering public funds, illegitimate profiting and exporting natural gas to Israel. El-Husseini stressed the prosecution office is willing to carry out settlements with members of the former regime with regards to finances and property that they undeservedly received. He added that a special team of prosecutors is working on studying Salem's request to issue a decision that guarantees Egypt all its "financial rights." However, the prosecution cannot carry out this settlement unless defendants state all their possessions inside and outside of Egypt, he said. El-Husseini also said the ongoing case of retrieving finances of former members of the regime has not yielded positive results until now. From Ahramonline