Nightly News   |  February 13, 2011

Egyptians demand return of Mubarak fortune

The hunt for former President Hosni Mubarak’s riches began within hours of his resignation, but even days later, the size of the family’s wealth still stuns Egyptians. NBC’s Martin Fletcher reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>> largely bidding good riddance to their president they have a question, mainly about where his fortunes may be stashed. here's martin fletcher .

>> reporter: he's said to be the richest man in egypt if not the world. some egyptians say up to $70 billion, although u.s. officials say it's $2 to $3 billion. where's the money? the egyptian people want it back. the hunt for mubarak 's fortune began within hours of his resignation in switzerland. the government ordered all swiss banks to find and freeze his assets. pressure is growing on the british government to do the same. in every corner of egypt , if you overhear people speaking they speak about nothing but the mubarak family's assets.

>> they are absolutely shocked.

>> reporter: nobody is claiming mubarak stole money from the budget of the bank. it's about, using his power to help family and friends make billions. his guilt could be tough to pin down.

>> it's not personal, but it is the money of the people and we need it.

>> reporter: since resigning, mubarak has been staying in hills residence in the red sea resort, one of many properties his family is said to own around the world. this moment in london worth around $10 million and critics claim more properties in madrid, paris, dubai, washington and new york as well as hotels, land and businesses here in sharm sharm el-sheikh.

>> they don't see a difference between public money and private money .

>> reporter: mubarak 's corruption was a key complaint of the protesters and now they're demanding egypt 's new government seek the return of his money. nbc news, egypt .